ORD  CHANCELLORS 

OF   ENGLAND 


GIFT  OF 

•.Irs  A.   F.   Morrison 


:. 

S 


H  ^ 


I    I 

I     : 

'  m 


LIVES 

OF  THE 

LORD  CHANCELLORS  OF  ENGLAND. 


SIR  FRANCIS   BACON. 


LIVES 


OF 

THE   LORD  CHANCELLORS 

AND 

KEEPERS  OF  THE  GREAT  SEAL 

OF 

ENGLAND, 

FROM  THE  EARLIEST  TIMES  TILL  THE  REIGN  OF  QUEEN  VICTORIA. 

BY 

LORD     CAMPBELL. 
V 

NEW   EDITION,   EDITED  BY 
JOHN     ALLAN     MALLORY 

OF  THE   NEW   YORK   BAR. 

ILLUSTRATED. 

VOL.    III. 


NEW   YORK: 
JAMES     COCKCROFT     &     CO. 

1874. 


CONTENTS 

OF 

THIRD    VOLUME. 


CHAP.  PAGE 

LIII. — Continuation  of  the    Life   of  Lord  Bacon   to  the   end 

of  the  reign  of  Elizabeth, I 

LIV. — Continuation   of    the    Life    of  Lord    Bacon    from    the 
accession   of  James  I.  till   his   appointment  as   Lord 
Chancellor,  ........  16 

LV. — Continuation    of    the    Life    of    Lord    Bacon    from    his 

appointment  as  Chancellor  till  his  fall,      ...  53 

LVI. — Conclusion  of  the  Life  of  Lord  Bacon,         ...  95 

LVII. — Life  of  Lord  Keeper  Williams  from  his  birth   till  his 

installation  as  Lord  Keeper,         .....         127 

LVIII. — Continuation   of    the    Life   of    Lord    Keeper   Williams 

till  the  end  of  the  reign  of  James  I.,         ...         147 
LIX. — Continuation    of    the   Life   of    Lord    Keeper  Williams 

till  his  appointment  as  Archbishop  of  York,     .         .         163 
LX. — Conclusion  of  the  Life  of  Lord  Keeper  Williams,        .         178 
LXI. — Life  of  Lord  Keeper  Coventry  from  his  birth  till   the 
commencement   of    the    proceedings   respecting    ship 

money, 191 

LXII. — Conclusion  of  the  Life  of  Lord  Keeper  Coventry,     .         .         216 
LXIII. — Life    of    Lord   Keeper    Finch   from    his    birth   till   the 

meeting  of  the  Long  Parliament,         ....         230 
LXIV. — Conclusion  of  the  Life  of  Lord  Keeper  Finch,      .         .         251 
LXV. — Life  of  Lord  Keeper  Littleton  from  his  birth  till   the 

commencement  of  the  civil  war,          ....         262 
LXVI. — Conclusion  of  the  Life  of  Lord  Keeper  Littleton,        .         277 


43G095 


vi  CONTENTS. 

CHAT.  PAGE 

LXVIL— Life  of  Lord  Keeper  Lane, 292 

LXVIII. — Lords  Keepers  of  the  Parliamentary  Great  Seal  during 
the    Commonwealth,    till    the    first    appointment    of 
Lord  Commissioner  Whitelock,     .....         3°5 
LXIX. — Lords  Commissioners  of  the  Great  Seal  from  the  'first 
appointment  of  Whitelock  till  the  adoption  of  a  new 
Great  Seal  bearing  the  insignia  of  the  Republic,      .         320 
LXX. — Lords   Keepers   from  the  adoption  of  the   Republican 

Great  Seal  till  Cromwell  became  "  Protector,"       .         .         347 
LXXI. — Lords     Keepers     during     the    Protectorate     of    Oliver 

Cromwell, 356 

LXXII. — Lords  Commissioners  of  the  Great  Seal  from  the  death 

of  Cromwell  till   the   Restoration 370 

LXXIIL— Life  of  Lord  Keeper  Herbert 394 

LXXIV. — Life  of  Lord  Chancellor  Clarendon  from   his  birth  till 

the  execution  of  Lord  Strafford,        ....        408 
LXXV. — Continuation    of  the   Life   of    Lord   Clarendon   till   he 

was  sent  to  Bristol  with  the  charge  of  Prince  Charles,         424 
LXXVI. — Continuation   of  the    Life   of  Lord   Clarendon   till  his 

return  from  the  embassy  to  Madrid,  .         .         .         439 

LXXVII. — Continuation  of  the   Life  of  Clarendon   till  the  Great 

Seal  was  delivered  to  him   at  Bruges,        .        .        .        455 


LIVES 


OF  THE 


LORD  CHANCELLORS  OF  ENGLAND. 


CHAPTER  LIII. 

CONTINUATION    OF    THE     LIFE   OF   LORD   BACON   TO   THE 
END   OF  THE   REIGN   OF  ELIZABETH. 

TRANSACTIONS  now  come  upon  us,  which,  though 
they  did   not   seriously  mar  Bacon's  fortunes,  have 
affixed  a  greater  stain  upon  his  memory  than  even 
that  judicial  corruption  by  which  he  was  at  once  precipi- 
tated from  the  height  of  power  and  greatness. 

We  have  seen  how  Essex  behaved  to  him  with  princely 
munificence,  and  with  more  than  fraternal  affection.  Their 
intimacy  continued  without  abatement  till  the  ill-fated 
young  nobleman  had  incurred  the  displeasure  of  his  Sov- 
ereign. He  steadily  supported  the  interest  of  his  friend 
at  Court  by  his  personal  exertions ;  and  when  he  was  to 
be  absent  in  his  expedition  to  the  coast  of  Spain,  he  most 
earnestly  recommended  him  to  the  Queen,  and  all  over 
whom  he  could  expect  to  exercise  any  influence.  Bacon 
repaid  this  kindness  by  the  salutary  advice  he  gave  him, 
and  above  all  by  cautioning  him  against  going  as  Lord- 
Deputy  to  Ireland — a  service  unfit  for  his  abilities,  and 
which,  from  the  errors  he  was  in  danger  of  committing  in 
it,  and  the  advantage  to  be  taken  of  his  absence  by  his 
enemies,  was  likely  to  lead  to  his  ruin. 

In  spite  of  Essex's  unfortunate  campaign  and  unsuccess- 
ful negotiations  in  Ireland,  Bacon  stuck  by  him  as  a  de- 
fender,— believing  that  he  retained  his  place  in  the  Queen's 
heart,  and  that  he  would  yet  have  the  disposal  of  the 
patronage  of  the  Crown.  On  his  sudden  return  without 
in. — i 


JAMES    7.          [IS99- 


leave  frc/^  ^'c&fnnjatid,  afcfcW hurrying  down  to  Non- 
such, where  the"  Court  lay,  Bacon  followed  him,  and  had 
the  mortification  to  find,  that,  after  a  gleam  of  returning 
favor,  the  Earl  had  been  ordered  into  confinement.  But, 
to  guard  against  exaggeration  of  the  misconduct  about  to 
be  exposed,  I  most  eagerly  admit  that  now,  and  down  to 
the  hour  when  the  unhappy  youth  expiated  his  offenses  on 
the  scaffold,  Bacon  showed  him  as  much  countenance  as 
was  entirely  consistent  with  his  own  safety,  convenience, 
and  hope  of  advancement. 

In  a  short  interview  with  him  at  Nonsuch,  he  said/'  My 
Lord,  Nebecula  est,  cito  transibit ;  it  is  but  a  mist;"  and 
he  wisely  advised  him  "  to  seek  access  to  the  Queen  im- 
portune, opportune,  seriously,  sportingly,  every  way."1 

While  Essex  was  a  prisoner  in  the  custody  of  Lord 
Keeper  Egerton,  at  York  House,  as  Bacon  had  frequent 
interviews  with  the  Queen,  which,  he  says,  were  -only 
"  about  causes  of  her  revenue  and  law  business,"  the  ru- 
mor ran  that  he  was  incensing  her  against  his  young  patron  ; 
and  even  Robert  Cecil  mentioned  it  to  him,  saying,  one 
day,  in  his  house  at  the  Savoy,  "  Cousin,  I  hear  it,  but  I 
believe  it  not,  that  you  should  do  some  ill  office  to  my 
Lord  of  Essex :  for  my  part  I  am  merely  passive,  and  not 
active,  in  this  action;  and  I  follow  the  Queen,  and  that 
heavily,  and  I  lead  her  not.  The  same  course  I  would 
wish  you  to  take."  Francis  justified  himself,  and  we  be- 
lieve truly,  from  the  imputation.  According  to  his  own 
account  he  did  everything  in  his  power  to  induce  her  to 
restore  him  to  favor,  resorting  for  this  purpose  to  rhyme 
as  well  as  to  reason.  About  the  middle  of  Michaelmas 
term,  1600,  as  she  intimated  her  intention  to  dine  with 
him  at  Twickenham,  "though  he  professed  not  to  be  a 
poet,  he  prepared  a  sonnet,  directly  tending  and  alluding 
to  draw  on  her  Majesty's  reconcilement  to  my  Lord,"- 
which  he  presented  to  her  at  her  departure.  He  likewise, 
as  he  says,  strongly  dissuaded  her  from  prosecuting  Essex, 
on  account  of  his  great  popularity  ;  and  he  adds,  "  Never 
was  I  so  ambitious  of  anything  in  my  lifetime  as  I  was  to 
have  carried  some  token  or  favor  from  her  Majesty  to  my 
Lord, — using  all  the  art  I  had,  both  to  procure  her  Maj- 
esty to  send,  and  myself  to  be  the  messenger."  Elizabeth 
mentioning  to  him  one  day  at  Whitehall  the  nomination 
1  Apology.  Works,  vol.  vi.  219. 


15  99-1  LORD    BACON.  3 

of  Lord  Mountjoy  for  Deputy  in  Ireland,  Bacon  said  to 
her,  "Surely,  Madam,  if  you  mean  not  to  employ  my 
Lord  of  Essex  thither  again,  your  Majesty  can  not  make  a 
better  choice."  "  Essex!"  said  she  ;  "whensoever  I  send 
Essex  back  again  into  Ireland,.!  will  marry  you  ; — claim  it 
of  me."  Whereunto,  out  of  zeal  for  the  imprisoned  Earl, 
he  said,  "Well,  Madam,  I  will  release  that  contract,  if  his 
going  be  for  the  good  of  your  state."  She  was  so  far  of- 
fended, that  in  Christmas,  Lent,  and  Easter  term  follow- 
ing, when  he  came  to  her  on  law  business,  her  face  and 
manner  were  not  so  clear  and  open  to  him  as  usual,  and 
she  was  entirely  silent  respecting  Essex.  After  that,  she 
declared  that  she  was  resolved  to  proceed  against  him — 
by  information  ore  tenus  in  the  Star  Chamber,  although 
it  should  be  ad  castigationem,  et  non  ad  destructionem. 
Then,  to  divert  her  entirely  from  this  purpose,  Bacon  said, 
"  Madam,  if  you  will  have  me  speak  to  you  in  this  argu- 
ment, I  must  speak  to  you  as  Friar  Bacon's  head  spake, 
that  said  first  Time  is,  and  then  Time  was,  and  Time  will 
never  be  ;  it  is  now  far  too  late — the  matter  is  cold,  and 
hath  taken  too  much  wind." 

We  have  the  account  of  these  dialogues  only  from  him- 
self after  her  death,  and  it  is  to  be  regarded  with  great 
suspicion,  as  there  is  reason  to  think  that  she  gave  a  some- 
what different  version  of  them  in  her  lifetime ;  for,  intro- 
ducing his  narrative,  and  alluding  to  the  stories  circulated 
against  him,  he  says,  "  I  will  not  think  that  they  grew  any 
way  from  Majesty's  own  speeches,  whose  memory  I  will 
ever  honor  ;  if  they  did,  she  is  with  God,  and  miserum  est 
Iczdi  de  quibus  non  possis  queri." 

He  takes  to  himself  the  entire  merit  of  having  the  Star 
Chamber  prosecution  converted  into  the  extra-judicial  in- 
quiry before  the  Lord  Keeper  and  other  Commissioners  at 
York  House,1  by  saying  to  her,  "  Why,  Madam,  if  you  will 
needs  have  a  proceeding,  you  were  best  have  it  in  some 
such  sort  as  Ovid  spoke  of  his  mistress,  est  aliquid  luce 
patente  minus.'" 

It  is  quite  certain,  however,  that  he  had  never  ventured 
to  visit  the  disgraced  favorite  during  his  long  captivity,  or 
to  give  him  any  public  support  ;  and  the  people  (to  the 
honor  of  England  be  it  spoken),  ever  shocked  by  private 
treachery  and  ingratitude,  were  indignant  at  his  conduct, 
1  Apology,  vol.  vi.  200,  221. 


4  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.  [1600. 

and  gave  credit  to  "  a  sinister  speech  raised  of  him  how 
he  was  a  suitor  to  be  used  against  my  Lord  of  Essex  at 
that  time."  To  clear  himself  from  this  imputation,  he  has 
left  us  the  substance  of  a  letter  which  he  wrote  to  her 
when  he  heard  "  that  her  -Majesty  was  not  yet  resolved 
whether  she  would  have  him  forborne  in  the  business  or 
no,"  and  which  I  must  say,  rather  betrays  an  apprehension 
that  he  might  lose  the  advantage  and  e'clat  of  holding  a 
a  brief  in  a  case  of  such  public  expectation  :  "  That  if  she 
would  be  pleased  to  spare  me  in  my  Lord  of  Essex's  cause 
out  of  the  consideration  she  took  of  my  obligation  to- 
wards him,  I  should  reckon  it  for  one  of  her  greatest  favors ; 
but,  otherwise,  desiring  her  Majesty  to  think  that  I  know  the 
degrees  of  duties ;  and  that  no  particular  obligation  what- 
soever to  any  subject  could  supplant  or  weaken  that  entireness 
of  duty  that  I  did  owe  and  bear  to  her  service"  The  vin- 
dication was  completely  satisfactory  to  himself,  according 
to  his  own  standard  of  honor  and  delicacy,  for  he  says 
triumphantly,  "  This  was  the  goodly  suit  I  made,  being  a 
respect  no  man  that  had  his  wits  could  have  omitted. 

But  in  casting  the  parts  to  be  taken  by  the  different 
counsel,  he  was  not  satisfied  with  the  minor  one  assigned 
to  him,  which  was  to  show  that  Essex  had  given  some 
countenance  to  the  libelous  publication  stolen  from  Cor- 
nelius Tacitus  ;  and  he  objected  to  the  allotment, — "  That 
it  was  an  old  matter  and  had  no  manner  of  coherence  with 
the  rest  of  the  charge;"  but  he  was  answered  in  a  manner 
showing  that  others  knew  better  what  became  him  than 
himself,  "  because  it  was  considered  how  I  stood  to  my 
Lord  of  Essex,  therefore  that  part  was  thought  fittest 
for  me  which  did  him  the  least  hurt,  for  that,  whereas 
all  the  rest  was  matter  of  charge  and  accusation, 
this  only  was  but  matter  of  caveat  and  admonition." 
Though  "  nolens  volens,  he  could  not  avoid  the  part  laid 
upon  him  by  the  Queen's  pleasure,"  when  the  day  came 
he  made  the  most  of  it,  and,  admitting  that  "  he  did 
handle  it  not  tenderly,"  he  assures  us  that  this  seeming 
harshness  "must  be  ascribed  to  the  superior  duty  he  owed 
to  the  Queen's  fame  and  honor  in  a  public  proceeding, 
and  partly  to  the  intention  he  had  to  uphold  himself  in 
credit  and  strength  with  the  Queen,  the  better  to  be  able 
to  do  my  Lord  good  offices  afterwards !" 

At  the  Queen's  reauest  he  wrote  out  for  her  a  report  of 


i6oo.]  LORD    BACON.  5 

this  trial,  which  he  read  to  her  in  two  several  afternoons  ; 
and  when  he  came  to  Essex's  defense,  he  says,  she  was 
much  moved,  and,  praising  the  manner  in  which  it  was 
given,  observed,  "  she  perceived  old  love  could  not  easily 
be  forgotten."  Upon  which,  he  tells  us,  he  ventured  to 
reply,  "  that  he  hoped  she  meant  that  of  herself." 

He  really  had  a  desire, — if  not  to  satisfy  his  conscience, 
— for  the  sake  of  his  reputation,  to  assist  in  restoring  Essex 
to  favor.  With  this  view  he  composed  several  letters  for 
him  to  be  addressed  to  the  Queen,  and  a  letter  supposed 
to  be  written  by  his  brother  to  -Essex, — with  the  answer 
from  Essex  to  his  brother, — which  were  privately  shown 
to  the  Queen  with  a  view  of  mollifying  her. 

On  one  occasion,  mentioning  to  her  a  doctor  who  had 
for  a  time  cured  his  brother  of  the  gout,  but  that  the 
patient  had  afterwards  found  himself  worse,  she  said,  "I 
will  tell  you,  Bacon,  the  error  of  it ;  the  manner  of  these 
empirics  is  to  continue  one  kind  of  medicine,  which  at  the 
first  is  proper,  being  to  draw  out  the  ill  humor,  but  after, 
they  have  not  the  discretion  to  change  the  medicine." 
"Good  Lord,  Madam,"  said  he,  "  how  wisely,  and  aptly 
can  you  speak  and  discern  of  physic  ministered  to  the 
body,  and  consider  not  that  there  is  the  like  occasion  of 
physic  ministered  to  the  mind!"  And  then  he  went  on 
to  apply  the  doctrine  to  the  case  of  Essex,  from  whom 
the  humor  had  been  sufficiently  drawn,  and  who  stood  in 
need  of  having ^trength  and  comfort  ministered  to  him. 

Essex  was  now  liberated  from  custody,  but  soon  began 
to  set  the  Court  at  defiance,  and  Bacon  became  very  un- 
happy at  the  double  game,  he  himself  had  been  playing ; 
for  there  was  little  prospect  of  the  favorite  being  restored 
to  power  ;  and  in  the  mean  time  Elizabeth  testified  great 
displeasure  with  his  old  "  Mentor,  under  whose  advice  she 
believed  he  was  acting.  For  three  months  she  would  not 
converse  with  her  "counsel  extraordinary,"  even  on  law 
matters,  and  "  she  turned  away  from  him  with  express 
and  purpose-like  discountenance  wheresoever  she  saw 
him."  At  last,  after  new-year's-tide,  he  boldly  demanded 
an  audience,  with  the  evident  intention  of  intimating  to 
her  that  he  was  ready  to  renounce  all  connection  with 
Essex  for  ever.  He  tells  us  that  he  thus  addressed  her: — 
"  Madam,  I  see  you  withdraw  your  favor  from  me,  and 
now  I  have  lost  many  friends  for  your  sake.  I  shall  lose 


6  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.         [1600. 

you,  too :  you  have  put  me  like  one  of  those  that  the 
Frenchmen  call  enfans  perdus,  that  serve  on  foot  before 
horsemen  ;  so  have  you  put  me  into  matters  of  envy,  with- 
out place  or  without  strength  ;  and  I  know  at  chess  a  pawn 
before  the  King  is  ever  much  played  upon.  A  great 
many  love  me  not  because  they  think  I  have  been  against 
my  Lord  of  Essex,  and  you  love  me  not  because  you 
know  I  have  been  for  him;  yet  will  I  never  repent  me 
that  I  have  dealt  in  simplicity  of  heart  towards  you  both, 
without  respect  of  cautions  to  myself,  and,  therefore, 
•vivus  vidensque  pereo.  If  I  do  break  my  neck,  I  shall  do 
it  in  a  manner  as  Mr.  Dorrington  did  it,  which  walked  on 
the  battlements  of  the  church  many  days,  and  took  a  view 
and  survey  where  he  should  fall.  And  so,  Madam,  I  am 
not  so  simple  but  that  I  take  a  prospect  of  my  overthrow; 
only  I  thought  I  would  tell  you  so  much,  that  you  may 
know  that  it  was  faith,  and  not  folly,  that  brought  me 
into  it,  and  so  I  will  pray  for  you."  He  says,  that  by 
this  speech,  uttered  with  some  passion,  her  Majesty  was 
exceedingly  moved,  and  said  to  him,  Gratia  mea  sufficit, 
with  other  sensible  and  tender  words ;  but  as  touching 
my  Lord  of  Essex,  ne  verbum  quidem.  "Whereupon," 
says  he,  "  I  departed,  resting  then  determined  to  meddle 
no  more  in  the  matter,  as  that,  I  saw,  would  overthrow 
me,  and  not  be  able  to  do  him  any  good."  ' 

To  this  selfish  resolve  may  be  ascribed  the  fatal  catas- 
trophe which  soon  followed.  Essex,  irritated  by  the 
Queen's  refusal  to  renew  his  patent  for  the  monopoly  of 
sweet  wines,  was  beginning  to  engage  in  very  criminal 
and  very  foolish  projects  ;  but  .if  Bacon,  whom  he  was  yet 
inclined  to  love  and  honor,  had  continued  to  keep  up  an 
intercourse  with  him,  had  visited  him  in  Essex  House, 
had  seen  the  desperate  companions  with  whom  he  was 
there  associating,  and  had  warned  him  of  the  danger  to 
which  he  was  exposing  himself  and  the  state,  it  is  utterly 
impossible  that  the  mad  attempt  to  raise  an  insurrection 
in  the  city,  and  forcibly  to  get  possession  of  the  Queen's 
person,  should  ever  have  been  hazarded.  But  the  "rash 
enthusiast,  suddenly  deserted  by  him  on  whose  sagacity 
and  experience  he  had  relied  ever  since  he  had  entered 
into  public  life,  listened  to  the  advice  of  men  destitute 
alike  of  prudence  and  of  virtue  ;  and  after  committing  the 

1  Apology.     Works,  vol.  vi.  231. 


i6oo.]  LORD    BACON.  7 

clearest  acts  of  treason  and  rebellion,  was  obliged  to  sur- 
render himself  to  justice. 

It  might  have  been  expected  that  now,  at  any  rate, 
struck  with  remorse  and  overcome  by  tenderness,  Bacon 
would  have  hastened  to  the  noble  prisoner's  cell  in  the 
Tower  to  comfort  and  console  him, — to  assist  him  in  pre- 
paring an  almost  hopeless  defense, — to  devise  schemes 
with  him  for  assuaging  the  anger  of  the  Queen, — to  teach 
him  how  he  might  best  avail  himself  for  his  deliverance 
of  that  ring  which  Bacon  knew  had  been  intrusted  to 
him,  with  a  promise  that  it  should  bend  her  to  mercy  when- 
ever returned  to  her, — which  she  was  anxiously  looking 
to  see  till  the  very  moment  of  his  execution,  and  the 
thought  of  which  embittered  her  own  end.  At  all  events, 
he  might  have  helped  his  fated  friend  to  meet  death,  and 
have  accompanied  him  to  the  scaffold. 

Tranquilized  by  an  assurance  that  he  was  to  be  em- 
ployed, along  with  the  Queen's  Sergeant  and  the  Attor- 
ney and  Solicitor  General,  as  Counsel  for  the  Crown,  on 
the  trial  of  Essex  before  the  Lord  High  Steward,  Bacon 
spent  the  ten  days  which  elapsed  between  the  commit- 
ment to  the  Tower  and  the  arraignment,  shut  up  in  his 
chambers  in  Gray's  Inn,  studying  the  law  of  treason, — 
looking  out  for  parallel  cases  of  an  aggravated  nature  in 
the  history  of  other  countries, — and  considering  how  he 
might  paint  the  unpardonable  guilt  of  the  accused  in  even 
blacker  colors  than  could  be  employed  by  the  ferocious 
Coke,  famous  for  insulting  his  victims. 

The  I9th  of  February  arrived.  Bacon  took  his  place 
early  at  the  bar  of  the  Court  constructed  for  the  Peers  in 
Westminster  HaK, — his  mind  filled  with  the  precedents 
and  the  tropes  he  had  accumulated.  Even  he  must  have 
felt  a  temporary  pang  when  the  object  of  general  sym- 
pathy, as  yet  little  turned  of  thirty  years  of  age, — whose 
courage  was  so  exalted,  whose  generosity  was  so  un- 
bounded, whose  achievements  were  so  brilliant,  who  had 
ever  testified  to  him  a  friendship  not  exceeded  by  any 
mentioned  in  history  or  fiction, — was  conducted  into  the 
Hall  by  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  and  the  officers  of  the  Tower, 
preceded  by  the  axs,  its  edge  still  turned  from  him  till 
the  certain  verdict  of  Guilty  should  be  pronounced.  But 
if  Bacon  felt  a  little  awkwardness  when  he  first  met  the 
eye  of  his  friend,  he  soon  recovered  his  composure,  and 


8  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.          [1600. 

he  conducted  himself  throughout  the  day  with  coolness, 
zeal,  and  dexterity. 

Yelverton,  the  Queen's  Sergeant,  and  Coke,  the  Attor- 
ney General,  first  addressed  the  Peers,  and  adduced  the 
evidence.  Essex,  then,  unassisted  with  counsel,  made  his 
defense,  chiefly  dwelling  upon  the  provocation  he  had  to 
right  himself  by  force  from  the  machinations  of  his  enemies, 
who  had  plotted  his  destruction.  The  reply  was  inirusted 
to  Bacon,  although  it  ought  to  have  been  undertaken  by 
Fleming,  the  Solicitor  General.  We  have  only  a  short 
sketch  of  it, — from  which  we  learn,  that,  taunting  Essex 
with  having  denied  nothing  material,  he  particularly  ad- 
dressed himself  to  the  apology  he  had  relied  upon, — com- 
paring him  to  Cain,  the  first  murderer,  who  took  up  "  an 
excuse  by  impudency,"  and  to  Pisistratus,  who,  doting  on 
the  affections  of  the  citizens,  and  wishing  to  usurp  supreme 
power,  wounded  his  own  body  that  it  might  be  thought 
he  had  been  in  danger.  He  thus  concluded  :  "  And  now, 
my  Lord,  all  you  have  said  or  can  say  in  answer  to  these 
matters  are  but  shadows,  and  therefore  meihinks  it  were 
your  best  course  to  confess,  and  not  to  justify."  ' 

It  so  happened  that  the  topics  on  which  Essex  had  re- 
lied in  his  defense  were  chiefly  taken  from  a  letter  which 
Bacon  had  penned  for  him  to  Queen  Elizabeth.  The  sim- 
ple-minded Earl,  unprepared  for  such  duplicity,  and  un- 
able to  distinguish  between  his  private  friend  and  the 
Queen's  counsel,  now  exclaimed,  "  May  it  please  your 
Lordship,  I  must  produce  Mr.  Bacon  for  a  witness."  He 
then  went  on  to  explain  the  contents  of  the  letter,  where- 
by, "  it  will  appear  what  conceit  he  held  of  me,  and  now 
otherwise  he  here  coloreth  and  pleadeth  the  contrary." 

Bacon,  a  little  abashed,  thus  retorted : — "  My  Lord,  I 
spent  more  hours  to  make  you  a  good  subject  than  upon 
any  man  in  the  world  besides;  but  since  you  have  stirred 
upon  this  point,  My  Lord,  I  dare  warrant  you  this  letter 
will  not  blush  ;  for  I  did  but  perform  the  part  of  an  honest 
man,  and  ever  labored  to  have  done  you  good,  if  it  might 
have  been,  and  to  no  other  end ;  for  what  I  intended  for 
your  good  was  wished  from  the  heart,  without  touch  of 
any  man's  honor." 

_  Essex  made  a  feeling  appeal  to  the  Peers  sitting  on 
his  trial  against  "  these  orators,  who  out  of  a  form  and 
1  Harl.  MS.  No.  6854.     I  St.  Tr.  1350. 


1600.]  LORD    BACON.  9 

custom  of  speaking,  would  throw  so  much  criminal  odium 
upon  him,  while  answering  at  the  peril  of  his  life  a  par- 
ticular charge  brought  against  him."  "And,"  he  said,  in  a 
manner  that  made  a  deep  impression  on  all  who  heard 
him,  "  I  protest  before  the  ever-living  God,  as  he  may 
have  mercy  on  me,  that  my  conscience  is  clear  from  any 
disloyal  thought  or  harm  to  her  Majesty.  My  desire  ever 
hath  been  to  be  free  from  bloodshed.  If  in  all  my  thoughts 
and  purposes  I  did  not  ever  desire  the  good  estate  of  my 
Sovereign  and  country  as  of  my  own  soul,  I  beseech  the 
Lord  to  set  some  mark  upon  me  in  this  place  for  a  just 
vengeance  of  my  untruths  to  all  the  world.  And  God, 
which  knoweth  the  secrets  of  all  hearts,  knoweth  that  I 
never  sought  the  crown  of  England,  nor  ever  wished  to  be 
a  higher  degree  than  a  subject.  I  only  sought  to  secure 
my  access  to  the  Queen,  that  I  might  speedily  have  un- 
folded my  griefs  unto  her  Majesty  against  my  private 
enemies,  but  not  to  have  shed  one  drop  of  their  blood. 
For  my  religion  it  is  sound,  and  as  I  live  I  mean  to  die  in 
it." 

This  appeal  might,  from  sympathy,  have  produced  a 
verdict  of  not  guilty,  or  might  have  softened  the  resent- 
ment of  Elizabeth  ;  but,  to  deprive  him  of  all  chance  of 
acquittal  or  of  mercy,  Bacon,  after  again  pointing  out  how 
slenderly  he  had  answered  the  objections  against  him, 
most  artfully  and  inhumanly  compared  him  to  the  Duke 
de  Guise,  the  leader  of  the  league  in  France,  who  kept  in 
tutelage  the  last  prince  of  the  House  of  Valois,  and  who 
on  "  the  day  of  the  Barricadoes  "  at  Paris,  intending  to 
take  forcible  possession  of  his  Sovereign's  person,  with 
the  purpose  of  dethroning  him,  had  such  confidence  in  the 
love  of  the  citizens,  that  he  appeared  to  lead  the  intended 
insurrection  in  his  doublet  and  hose,  attended  with  only 
eight  men, — and  who,  when  he  was  obliged  to  yield,  the 
King  taking  arms  against  him,  pretended  that  he  had 
merely  contemplated  a  private  quarrel. 

Essex  having  been  condemned,  Elizabeth  wavered  to 
the  last  moment  about  carrying  the  sentence  into  execu- 
tion. Once,  while  relenting,  she  sent  her  commands,  by 
Sir  Edward  Carey,  that  he  should  not  be  executed  ; — then, 
remembering  his  perverse  obstinacy, — that  he  scorned  to 
ask  her  pardon  or  to  send  her  the  ring,  the  appointed 
pledge  of  love  and  reconciliation, — she  from  time  to  time 


jo  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.          [1600. 

recalled  the  reprieve.  It  is  highly  probable  that,  under 
these  circumstances,  Bacon  might  have  saved  the  life  of 
his  friend,  either  by  advising  him  or  interceding  for  him. 
He  went  not  to  the  Tower,  and  although,  "  between  the 
arraignment  and  my  Lord's  suffering,  he  was  once  with 
the  Queen,  yet  he  durst  not  deal  directly  for  my  Lord,  as 
things  stood."  He  tells  us,  indeed,  that  "  he  did  com- 
mend her  Majesty's  mercy,  terming  it  to  her  as  an  excel- 
lent balm  that  did  continually  distil  from  her  sovereign 
hands,  and  made  an  excellent  odor  in  the  senses  of  her 
people."  But  while  he  thus  flattered  her,  he  did  not  ven- 
ture to  hint  that  her  reputation  for  mercy  would  be  en- 
dangered by  suffering  the  law  to  take  its  course  against 
Essex,  who,  though  technically  guilty  of  treason,  instead 
of  "  imagining  and  compassing  her  death,"  felt  for  her  the 
sincerest  loyalty  and  reverence,  and  would  cheerfully  have 
died  in  her  defense.  Why  did  he  not  throw  himself  on  his 
knees  before  her,  and  pray  for  a  pardon  ?  Because,  while  it 
was  possible  that  he  might  have  melted  her,  it  was  pos- 
sible that  he  might  have  offended  her,  and  that,  a  vacancy 
in  the  office  of  Solicitor  General  occurring,  he  might  be 
again  passed  over. 

Worse  remains  behind.  The  execution  being  deeply 
deplored  and  censured  by  the  people,  and  Elizabeth,  when 
she  afterwards  appeared  in  public,  being  received  with 
the  coldest  silence  instead  of  the  enthusiastic  plaudits  to 
which  she  had  been  accustomed  for  forty  years,  she  wished 
a  pamphlet  to  be  written  to  prove  that  Essex  was  prop- 
erly put  to  death,  and  she  selected  Francis  Bacon  to  write 
it.  He,  without  hesitation,  undertook  the  task,  pleased 
"  that  her  Majesty  had  taken  a  liking  of  his  pen,"  and, 
with  his  usual  industry  and  ability,  soon  produced  "  A 
Declaration  of  the  Practices  and  Treasons  of  Robert,  late 
Earl  of  Essex." 

No  honorable  man  would  purchase  Bacon's  subsequent 
elevation  at  the  price  of  being  the  author  of  this  publica- 
tion. A  mere  report  of  the  trial  for  treason  would  have 
been  excusable ;  but,  to  calumniate  the  memory  of  his 
friend,  he  goes  back  to  a  period  when  they  were  living 
together  on  terms  of  the  closest  intimacy, — when  Essex 
was  entirely  under  his  influence  ; — and  he  accuses  him 
of  crimes  of  which  he  knew  that  the  deceased  was 
entirely  innocent.  Having  begun  by  saying  that  the 


i6oo.]  LORD    BACON.  n 

favorite  aspired  to  the  greatness  of  the  Prtzfectus  Pr<ztorio 
under  the  emperors  of  Rome,  he  charges  him  with  having 
formed  a  treasonable  design  when  he  first  went  Deputy  to 
Ireland.  "  For  being  a  man  by  nature  of  an  high  imagina- 
tion, and  a  great  promiser  to  himself  as  well  as  to  others, 
he  was  confident  that  if  he  were  once  the  first  person  in  a 
Kingdom,  and  a  sea  between  the  Queen's  seat  and  his,  and 
Wales  the  nearest  land  from  Ireland,  and  that  he  had!  got 
the  flower  of  the  English  forces  into  his  hands,  which  he 
thought  so  to  intermix  with  his  own  followers  as  the 
whole  body  should  move  by  his  spirit,  and  if  he  might 
also  have  absolutely  into  his  own  hands  potestatem  vitce 
et  necis  et  arbitrium  belli  et  pads  over  the  rebels,  he  should 
be  able  to  make  that  place  of  lieutenancy  of  Ireland  as  a 
rise  or  step  to  ascend  to  his  desired  greatness  in  England." 
Next,  all  his  proceedings  in  Ireland  are  converted  into 
overt  acts  of  this  treasonable  design.  But  none  knew 
better  than  Bacon  that,  though  Essex's  Irish  policy  had 
been  unwise  and  unfortunate,  he  had  most  earnestly  done 
his  best  to  serve  his  country,  and  that  when  he  returned 
he  had  been  both  publicly  and  privately  absolved  of  all 
disloyalty, — the  only  charge  maintained  against  him  being, 
that  he  had  acted  in  some  instances  contrary  to  his  instruc- 
tions. In  the  report  of  the  trial,  several  material  passages 
of  the  depositions  favorable  to  the  accused  are  omitted  ; 
and  in  the  originals  preserved  in  the  State  Paper  Offices, 
and  verified  by  the  handwriting  of  Sir  Edward  Coke,  there 
may  be  seen  opposite  these  passages,  in  the  handwriting 
of  Bacon,  the  abbreviated  direction — "am."  ] 

Bacon  vainly  attempts  to  mitigate  his  own  infamy  by 
saying,  "  Never  Secretary  had  more  particular  and  ex- 
press directions  in  every  poirft  how  to  guide  my  hand  in 
it ;  " — adding  that,  after  the  first  draught,  it  was  materially 
altered  by  certain  councillors  to  whom  it  was  propounded 
by  her  Majesty's  appointment, — he  himself  giving  only 
words  and  form  of  style.  After  the  specimen  I  have  ex- 
hibited, what  shall  we  say  of  his  asseveration  ? — "  their 
Lordships  and  myself  both  were  as  religious  and  curious 
of  truth  as  desirous  of  satisfaction." 

The  base  ingratitude  and  the  slavish  meanness  mani- 
fested by  Bacon  on  this  occasion  called  forth  the  general 

1  This  melancholy  discovery  was  made  by  my  friend,  Mr.  Jardine.  See  his 
Criminal  Trials,  vol.  i.  332. 


12  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.  [1600. 

indignation  of  his  contemporaries.  He  afterwards  tried  to 
soften  this  by  his  "Apology  addressed  to  Mountjoy,  Earl 
of  Devonshire," — a  tract  from  which  I  have  taken  most  of 
the  facts  on  which  my  censure  is  founded,  and  which  seals 
his  condemnation  with  posterity ;  as  it  not  only  admits 
these  facts,  but  shows  that  he  had  before  his  eyes  no  just 
standard  of  honor,  and  that  in  the  race  of  ambition  he 
had  lost  all  sense  of  the  distinction  between  right  and 
wrong.1 

A  zealous  advocate,  however,  has  sprung  up,  who,  con- 
sidering Bacon  to  be  \h&  purest  as  well  as  the  "  wisest  and 
brightest  of  mankind,"  pronounces  his  conduct  through 
the  whole  course  of  these  transactions  to  be  deserving  of 
high  admiration.8  It  will  be  necessary  to  do  little  more 
than  notice  the  heads  of  the  defense  or  panegyric.  I. 
"  Bacon  did  well  in  preferring  the  Queen  to  Essex,  as  she 
had  been  so  kind  to  him  ;  and,  instead  of  pampering  him 
with  good  things,  made  him  for  his  advantage  bear  the 
yoke  in  his  youth."  This  seems  to  proceed  on  the  ranting 
and  absurd  maxim  in  the  "  Apology,"  that  "  every  honest 
man  that  hath  his  heart  well  planted  will  forsake  his  friend 
rather  than  forsake  his  King."  Friendship  can  not  justify 
treason  or  any  violation  of  the  law  ;  but  are  the  sacred 
ties  of  friendship  to  be  snapped  asunder  by  the  caprice 
of  any  crowned  head  ?  Elizabeth  had  conferred  no  per- 
sonal obligations  on  Bacon ;  she  had  refused  him  the  pro- 
fessional advancement  to  which  he  was  fairly  entitled ; 
and  her  only  object  was  to  make  the  most  of  him  at  the 
least  cost.  2.  "  Bacon  was  bound  to  appear  as  counsel 
against  Essex,  according  to  professional  etiquette."  Sup- 
pose that  his  dearly  beloved  brother,  Anthony,  who  was 
in  the  service  of  Essex,  had  taken  part  with  him  in  the  in- 
surrection on  the  8th  of  February,  and  had  been  prose- 
cuted for  high  treason,  must  Francis  have  appeared  as  coun- 
sel against  him,  and  racked  his  ingenuity  that  his  brother 
might  be  hanged,  emboweled,  and  quartered  ?  Etiquette 
can  not  be  opposed  to  the  feelings  of  nature,  or  the  dic- 

1  He  begins  by  giving  a  false  account  of  the  origin  of  his  connection  with 
Essex :  "  I  loved  my  country  more  than  was  answerable  to  my  fortune,  and  I 
held  my  Lord  to  be  the  fittest  instrument  to  do  good  to  the  state,  and  there- 
fore I  applied  myself  to  him,"  &c.  He  knew  well  that  the  precocious  boy 
was  wholly  unfit  to  be  a  minister  of  state,  and  he  applied  himself  to  him  be- 
cause he  hoped  for  advancement  from  the  new  favorite, 

3  Montagu's  Life  of  Bacon. 


i6oi.]  LORD      BACON.  13 

tates  of  morality.  A  dispensation  might  easily  have  been 
obtained,  if  there  had  been  a  willingness  to  renounce  the 
advantage  and  dclat  of  the  appearance.  3.  "  Essex  had 
abused  his  friendship,  and  had  assumed  the  dissembling 
attitude  of  humility  and  penitence,  that  he  might  more 
securely  aim  a  blow  at  the  very  life  of  his  royal  benefac- 
tress." This  is  an  utter  misrepresentation  of  the  object 
of  Essex's  insurrection  ;  at  any  rate,  he  had  not  engaged 
in  it  till  Bacon  had  selfishly  thrown  him  off;  and  Essex's 
public  crime  could  not  cancel  the  claims  of  private  friend- 
ship, which  he  had  never  violated.  But,  4.  "  Bacon  was 
bound  not  to  run  the  risk  of  marring  his  advancement,  as 
he  meant  to  use  power,  when  attained,  for  the  benefit  of 
mankind."  Will  the  end  justify  the  means  ?  and  was  he 
not  more  likely  to  improve  the  world  by  devoting  himself 
to  the  completion  of  the  Instauratio  Magna,  than  by 
struggling  to  obtain  the  Great  Seal,  which  he  might  lose 
by  taking  a  bribe. 

For  some  time  after  Essex's  execution,  Bacon  was 
looked  upon  with  great  aversion ;  and,  from  the  natural 
tendency  of  mankind  to  exaggerate,  he  was  even  sus- 
pected of  having  actively  prompted  that  measure.  But  it 
is  marvelous  to  witness  what  men  of  brilliant  talents,  and 
of  enterprise  and  energy,  may  accomplish,  in  making 
contemporaries  forget  their  errors  and  misconduct  by 
drawing  the  public  attention  to  themselves  in  new  situa- 
tions and  circumstances. 

Parliament  meeting  a  few  months  after  the  execution 
of  Essex,  that  event  which  had  so  deeply  interested  the 
nation  was,  for  a  time,  almost  forgotten  in  the  excitement 
occasioned  by  the  Queen's  fainting  fit  on  the  throne,  the 
shutting  out  of  the  Commons  from  the  House  of  Lords, 
when  the  royal  speech  was  delivered,  and  the  efforts 
made  to  put  down  the  frightful  grievance  of  monopolies. 
Bacon  being  again  returned  as  a  member  of  the  House  of 
Commons,  we  may  believe  that  he  was  at  first  not  only 
shunned  by  the  friends  of  Essex,  but  looked  upon  very 
coldly  by  men  of  all  parties  and  opinions.  He  was  de- 
termined to  regain  his  ascendency.  In  the  exercise  of 
the  privilege  which  then  belonged  to  the  representa- 
tives of  the  people,  and  still  belongs  to  Peers,  'of  laying 
bills  on  the  table  without  previously  asking  leave  to 
bring  them  in,  he  immediately  introduced  a  bill  "for  the 


i4  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    /.          [1601. 

better  suppressing  abuses  in  weights  and  measures,"  say- 
ing, "This,  Mr.  Speaker,  is  no  bill  of  state,  nor  of  novelty, 
like  a  stately  gallery  for  pleasure,  but  neither  to  live  in 
nor  sleep  in ;  but  this  bill  is  a  bill  of  repose,  of  quiet,  of 
profit,  of  true  and  just  dealings.  The  fault  of  using  false 
weights  and  measures  is  grown  so  intolerable  and  com- 
mon, that  if  you  would(  build  churches  you  shall  not  need 
for  battlements  and  halls,  other  than  false  weights  of  lead 
and  brass.  I  liken  this  bill  to  that  sentence  of  the  poet 
who  set  this  as  a  paradox  in  the  forefront  of  his  book : 
first  water,  then  gold,  preferring  necessity  before  pleasure. 
And  I  am  of  the  same  opinion,  that  things  necessary  in 
use  are  better  than  things  which  are  glorious  in  estima- 
tion." He  said  he  would  speak  to  every  particular 
clause  "at  the  passing  of  the  bill."  But  he  was  not  able 
to  carry  it,  and  the  subject  remained  for  legislation  in  the 
reign  of  William  IV. 

A  supply  being  proposed  greater  than  was  ever  pre- 
viously granted  (four  subsidies  and  eight-fifteenths),  Bacon 
warmly  supported  it,  and  ridiculed  a  motion  for  exempt- 
ing "  three-pound  men,"  saying,  "  dulcis  tractus  pari 
jugo  :"  therefore,  the  poor  as  well  as  the  rich  should  pay. 

This  drew  upon  him  a  sarcasm  from  Sir  Walter  Raleigh, 
then  at  variance  with  the  Court,  who  (without  quoting 
Hansard)  referred  to  Bacon's  famous  patriotic  speech, 
and  said,  "  that  he  was  afraid  our  enemies,  the  Spaniards, 
would  hear  of  our  selling  our  pots  and  pans  to  pay  subsi- 
dies. Dulcis  tractus  pari  jugo,  says  an  honorable  person. 
Call  you  this  par  juguni,  when  a  poor  man  pays  as  much  as 
a  rich,  and  peradventure  his  estate  is  no  better  than  he  is 
set  at,  when  our  estates,  that  be  £30  or  £40  in  the 
Queen's  books,  are  not  the  hundredth  part  of  our  wealth  ? 
Therefore,  it  is  not  dulcis  nor  par."  The  supply,  never- 
theless, was  carried  by  a  large  majority. 

But  the  great  question  of  the  session  was  MONOPOLY, 
— on  which  Bacon  took  a  most  discreditable  part.  The 
grievance  of  grants  of  the  exclusive  right  to  deal  in  com- 
modities had  become  altogether  insupportable,  and  had 
caused  the  deepest  ferment  throughout  the  kingdom. 
It  is  difficult  to  conceive  how  society  could  subsist  at  a 
time  when  almost  all  matters  of  household  consumption 
or  commercial  adventure  (with  the  exception  of  bread, 
which  was  expected  soon  to  be  included),  were  assigned 


i6or.]  LORD    BACON.  15 

over  to  monopolists,  who  were  so  exorbitant  in  their  de- 
mands that  they  sometimes  raised  prices  tenfold  ;  and 
who,  to  secure  themselves  against  encroachments,  were 
armed  with  high  and  arbitrary  powers  to  search  every- 
where for  contraband,  and  to  oppress  the  people  at  pleas- 
ure. A  declaratory  bill  having  been  brought  in  by  Mr. 
Lawrence  Hide  to  put  down  the  grievance,  and  to  restore 
common-law  freedom  of  trade,  it  was  thus  opposed  by : — 

Mr.  Francis  Bacon.  "  The  bill  is  very  injurious  and 
ridiculous ;  injurious,  in  that  it  taketh,  or  rather  sweepeth, 
away  her  Majesty's  prerogative ;  and  ridiculous,  in  that 
there  is  a  proviso  that  the  statute  shall  not  extend  to 
grants  made  to  corporations ;  that  is  a  gull  to  sweeten 
the  bill  withal ;  it  is  only  to  make  fools  fain.  All  men  of 
the  law  know  that  a  bill  which  is  only  expository,  to  ex- 
pound the  common-law,  doth  enact  nothing;  neither  is 
any  promise  of  good  therein." 

Mr.  Secretary  Cecil  quoted  Bracton :  "  Prerogativum 
nostrum  nemo  audeat  disputare ;"  adding,  "  and  for  my 
own  part,  I  like  not  these  courses  should  be  taken  ;  and  you, 
Mn.Speaker,  should  perform  the  charge  her  Majesty  gave 
unto  you  in  the  beginning  of  this  parliament,  not  to  re- 
ceive bills  of  this  nature ;  for  her  Majesty's  ears  be  open 
to  all  grievances,  and  her  hand  stretched  out  to  every 
man's  petition."  : 

Bacon  made  an  evasive  attempt  to  support  the  abuse  of 
monopolies  by  pretending  that  the  proper  course  was 
humbly  to  petition  the  Queen,  that  she  would  abstain 
from  granting  them,  or  leave  them  to  the  course  of  the 
common-law  instead  of  legislating  against  them  ;  but  the 
House  showed  such  a  determined  spirit,  that  the 
Queen  was  compelled  to  yield ;  and  she  wisely  put  an 
end  to  the  discussion  by  sending  a  message,  through  the 
Speaker,  that  the  monopolies  complained  of  should  be 
canceled.  Secretary  Cecil  now  observed,  "  there  is  no 
patent  whereof  the  execution,  as  I  take  it,  hath  not  been 
injurious.  Would  that  there  never  had  been  any  granted. 
I  hope  there  shall  never  be  more."  Whereupon  there 
were  loud  cheers,  according  to  the  fashion  of  the  time : 
"all  the  House  said  AMEN."* 

There  is  nothing  more  interesting  in  our  constitutional 
history,  than  to  trace  the  growing  power  and  influence 
1  i  Parl.  Hist.  934.  >  Ibid. 


16  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.  [1603. 

of  the  House  of  Commons,  from  the  increasing  wealth  and 
intelligence  of  the  middling  classes  during  the  reign  of 
Elizabeth,  notwithstanding  the  arbitrary  orders  which  she 
issued  to  them,  and  her  habit,  hardly  considered  illegal, 
of  sending  members  to  gaol  when  they  offended  her. 
The  abolishers  of  monopolies  were,  the  fathers  of  those 
patriots,  who,  in  the  next  generation,  passed  "  the  Petition 
of  Right,"  and  assembled  in  the  Long  Parliament. — Bacon 
himself  lived  to  see  both  Houses  unanimous  in  putting 
down  judicial  corruption. 

In  this  reign  he  did  not  again  take  part  in  any  affairs  of 
importance.  Like  the  Cecils,  he  was  turning  his  eyes  to 
the  north,  where  the  rising  light  he  was  desirous  to  wor- 
ship was  to  appear. 


CHAPTER  LIV. 

CONTINUATION   OF   THE   LIFE   OF  LORD  BACON  FROM   THE 

ACCESSION   OF  JAMES   I.   TILL  HIS  APPOINTMENT  AS 

LORD   KEEPER. 

BACON  had  not  contrived  to  open  any  direct  com- 
munication with  James  during  Elizabeth's  life  ; — 
but  no  sooner  had  she  breathed  her  last  at  Richmond, 
than  he  took  active  steps  to  recommend  himself  to  the  new 
monarch.  He  first  wrote  letters  to  Fowlys,  a  confidential 
person  at  the  Scottish  Court,  to  be  shown  to  James, — in 
which  (among  other  flatteries)  he  says,  "  We  all  thirst  af- 
ter the  King's  coming,  accounting  all  this  but  as  the 
dawning  of  the  day  before  the  rising  of  the  sun,  till  we 
have  his  presence."1  He  wrote  similar  letters  to  Sir 
Thomas  Chaloner,  an  Englishman,  who  had  gone  down 
to  salute  James,  and  was  made  governor  to  Prince  Henry, 
— to  Dr.  Morrison,  a  physician  at  Edinburgh,  in  the  con- 
fidence of  James, — and  to  Lord  Kinlosse,  his  prime  favor- 
ite, who,  strangely  enough,  for  want  of  a  place  for  which 
he  was  fitter,  was  made  Master  of  the  Rolls.  In  a  few 
days  after  he  addressed  a  letter  directed  to  James  himself. 
Having  heard  of  his  pedantic  taste,  he  thus  tries  to  suit 
it:  "It  mav  please  your  most  excellent  Majesty, — It  is 

1  Works,  vol.  v.  272. 


1603.]  LORD    BACON.  17 

observed  by  some  upon  a  place  in  the  Canticles,  Ego  sum 
flos  campi  et  lilium  convallium,  that  a  dispari,  it  is  not 
said,  Ego  sum  flos  horti  et  lilium  montium,  because  the 
majesty  of  that  person  is  not  enclosed  for  a  few,  nor  ap- 
propriated to  the  great."  He  then  goes  on  to  say,  that 
he  would  .not  have  made  oblation  of  himself,  had  it  not 
been  for  the  liberty  which  he  enjoyed  with  his  late  dear 
sovereign  Mistress, — "  a  princess  happy  in  all  things,  but 
most  happy  in  such  a  successor."  J  Having  extolled  the 
services  of  old  Sir  Nicholas  and  of  his  brother  Anthony, 
and  modestly  alluding  to  his  own,  he  thus  shows  the 
measure  he  had  taken  of  the  discernment  and  taste  of 
King  James :  "  And  therefore,  most  high  and  mighty 
King,  my  most  dear  and  dread  Sovereign  Lord,  since  now 
the  corner-stone  is  laid  of  the  mightiest  monarchy  in 
Europe,  and  that  God  above  who  hath  ever  a  hand  in  bri- 
dling the  floods  and  motions  both  of  the  seas  and  of  people's 
hearts,  hath  by  the  miraculous  and  universal  consent,  the 
more  strange  because  it  proceedeth  from  such  diversity  of 
causes  in  your  coming  in,  given  a  sign  and  token  of  great 
happiness  in  the  continuance  of  your  reign,  I  think  there 
is  nt>  subject  of  your  Majesty's  which  loveth  this  island, 
and  is  not  hollow  and  unworthy,  whose  heart  is  not  set  on 
fire  not  only  to  bring  you  peace-offerings  to  make  you 
propitious,  but  to  sacrifice  himself  a  burnt-offering  or 
holocaust  to  your  Majesty's  service."2 

Nevertheless,  by  some  accident,  Bacon's  name  was 
omitted  in  the  first  warrant  sent  from  Holyrood,  for  con- 
tinuing different  persons  connected  with  the  law  in  their 
offices;  but  on  the  2ist  of  April,  when  James  had  reached 
Worksop  in  his  progress  to  the  South,  he  addressed 
another  warrant  to  the  Lord  Keeper,  whereby,  after  re- 
citing that  he  had  been  informed  that  Francis  Bacon, 
Esq.,  was  one  of  the  learned  counsel  to  the  late  Queen  by 
special  commandment,  he  says,  "  Therefore  we  do  require 

1  This  seems  to  have  afforded  a  happy  hint  for  the  famous  Dedication 
("  with  a  double  aspect ")  of  a  law-book  to  Lord  Eldon  by  a  gentleman  who, 
after  obtaining  permission  to  dedicate  to  him,  and  before  the  book  was  pub- 
lished, seeing  his  intended  patron  suddenly  turned  out  of  office, — after  some 
compliments  to  departing  greatness,  says,  "  but  your  felicity  is  that  you  con- 
template in  your  successor  (Lord  Erskine)  a  person  whose  judgment  will 
enable  him  to  appreciate  your  merits,  and  whose  talents  have  procured  him  a 
name  among  the  eminent  lawyers  of  his  country." — Raithby's  Edition  of 
Vernon. 

4  Works,  vol.  v.  275. 


1 8  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.  [1603. 

you  to  signify  our  pleasure  to  him  and  others  to  whom  it 
shall  appertain  to  be  thereof  certified,  that  our  meaning 
is  that  he  shall  continue  to  be  of  our  learned  counsel  in 
such  manner  as  before  he  was  to  the  Queen." 

As  James  approached,  Bacon  sent  him  the  draught  of 
a  proclamation  which  he  recommended  to  be  issued, — 
"  giving  assurance  that  no  man's  virtue  should  be  left  idle, 
unemployed,  or  unrewarded;"  but  it  was  not  adopted,  as 
greater  expectations  of  advancement  had  been  already  ex- 
cited than  could  possibly  be  gratified. 

Immediately  on  the  King's  arrival  at  Whitehall,  Bacon 
was  presented  to  him,  and  had  a  promise  of  private  access. 
He  thus  confidentially  describes  James  to  the  Earl  of 
Northumberland,  who  had  not  yet  been  at  Court  : — "  His 
speech  is  swift  and  cursory,  and  in  the  full  dialect  of  his 
country ;  in  speech  of  business,  short ;  in  speech  of  dis- 
course, large.  He  affecteth  popularity  by  gracing  such  as 
he  hath  heard  to  be  popular,  and  not  by  any  fashions  of 
his  own.  He  is  thought  somewhat  general  in  his  favors, 
and  his  virtue  of  access  is  rather  because  he  is  much  abroad 
and  in  press  than  that  he  giveth  easy  audience.  He  hast- 
eneth  to  a  mixture  of  both  kingdoms  faster  than  policy 
will  well  bear.  I  told  your  Lordship,  once  before,  that 
methought  his  Majesty  rather  asked  counsel  of  the  time 
past  than  of  the  time  to  come;1  but  it  is  yet  early  to 
ground  any  settled  opinion." 

He  pretended  that  he  had  formed  a  resolution  to  de- 
vote himself  for  the  rest  of  his  days  to  philosophy,  saying, 
"  My  ambition  now  I  shall  only  put  upon  my  pen,  whereby 
I  shall  be  able  to  maintain  memory  and  merit  of  the  times 
succeeding."2  But  in  reality  a  ludicrous  anxiety  had  en- 
tered the  mind  of  the  great  Bacon — that  he  might  be 
dubbed  a  knight,  and  in  creditable  fashion.  Under  the 
Tudors,  knighthood  was  a  distinction  reserved  to  grace 
the  highest  offices,  and  to  reward  the  most  eminent  ser- 
vices. James,  from  his  accession,  lavished  it  on  almost  all 
who  solicited  it,  and  turned  it  into  a  source  of  profit,  by 
compelling  all  who  had  land  of  the  yearly  value  of  forty 
pounds  to  submit  to  it  on  payment  of  high  fees,  or  to 
compound  for  it  according  to  their  ability.  Bacon,  per- 
haps, would  have  been  better  pleased  with  the  rare  dis- 

1  Bacon  immediately  discovered  this  defect  in  the  Stuart  character,  which 
proved  fatal  to  the  dynasty.  *  Letter  to  Cecil,  July  3,  1603. 


1603.]  LORD    BACON.  19 

tinction  of  escaping  it,  but  for  the  special  reasons  he  assigns 
in  the  following  letter  to  Cecil,  soliciting  that  it  might  be 
conferred  upon  him :  "  It  may  please  your  good  Lordship 
— for  this  divulged  and  almost  prostituted  title  of  knight- 
hood, I  could,  without  charge,  by  your  honor's  mean,  be 
content  to  have  it,  both  because  of  this  late  disgrace,1  and 
because  I  have  three  new  knights  in  my  mess  irk  Gray's 
Inn  commons,  and  because  I  have  found  out  an  Alder- 
man's daughter,  a  handsome  maiden,  to  my  liking.  So  as 
if  your  honor  will  find  the  time,  I  will  come  to  the  Court 
from  Gorhambury  upon  any  warning."* 

A  promise  being  obtained,  he  now  writes  to  Cecil,  pray- 
ing that  he  should  be  knighted  privately  by  himself. — 
"  For  my  knighthood  I  wish  the  manner  might  be  such  as 
might  grace  me,  since  the  matter  will  not — I  mean  that  I 
might  be  merely  gregarious  in  a  troop.  The  coronation 
is  at  hand."  In  this  desire  for  a  solitary  ceremony  he  was 
disappointed,  and  on  the  23rd  of  July,  the  day  of  the  coro- 
nation, he  was  obliged  to  kneel  down  with  a  mob  of  above 
300,  and  to  receive  a  stroke  of  a  sword  from  James,  who 
was  almost  frightened  to  handle  it,  or  look  at  it  even  when 
so  used.  However,  he  rose  Sir  Francis  ;  he  was  as  good 
as  the  other  members  of  his  mess  at  Gray's  Inn,  and  the 
handsome  and  rich  Miss  Barnham  speedily  became  Lady 
Bacon.  I  am  afraid  that  this  was  a  match  of  mere  con- 
venience, and  not  very  auspicious. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  new  reign  Bacon  experi- 
enced some  embarrassment  from  the  part  he  had  taken 
against  Essex, — there  being  a  strong  manifestation  of 
affection  towards  the  memory  of  that  nobleman,  and  in 
favor  of  the  party  who  had  supported  him.  The  Earl  of 
Southampton,  famous  as  the  enlightened  patron  and 
generous  friend  of  Shakespeare,  had  been  tried  for  treason, 
and,  being  convicted,  had  been  kept  close  prisoner  in  the 
Tower  till  the  death  of  Elizabeth.  His  pardon  was  now 
expected,  and  crowds  went  to  visit  him  while  he  still  re- 
mained in  confinement.  Among  these  Bacon  did  not 
venture  to  show  himself,  but  he  wrote  a  letterto  the  Earl, 
betraying  a  deep  consciousness  of  having  done  what  was 
wrong.  "Yet,"  says  he  (clearly  reflecting  on  his  honored 

1  I  do  not  know  what  this  refers  to.     I  do  not  find  that  he  complained  of 
the  re-appointment  of  Coke  and  Fleming  as  Attorney  and  Solicitor  General. 
*  July  3,  1603. 


20  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.          [1604. 

mistress},  "  it  is  as  true  as  a  thing  that  God  knoweth,  that 
this  change  hath  wrought  in  me  no  other  change  towards 
your  Lordship  than  this,  that  I  may  safely  be  that  to  you 
now  which  I  was  truly  before."  ! 

This  meanness  excited  nothing  but  disgust,  and  there 
was  such  a  strong  expression  of  resentment  against  him, 
that,  instead  of  waiting  quietly  till  the  public  should  be 
occupied  with  other  subjects,  he  very  imprudently  pub- 
lished "  The  Apology  of  Sir  Francis  Bacon  in  certain  Im- 
putations concerning  the  late  Earl  of  Essex,"  an  apology 
which  has  injured  him  more  with  posterity  than  all  the 
attacks  upon  him  by  his  enemies. 

His  first  appearance  in  public,  in  the  new  reign,  was  as 
one  of  the  counsel  for  the  Crown  on  the  trial  of  Sir 
Walter  Raleigh,  arising  out  of  the  conspiracy  to  put  Lady 
Arabella  Stuart  on  the  throne  ;  but  he  was  not  permitted 
by  Coke,  the  Attorney  General,  to  address  the  jury,  or 
even  to  examine  any  of  the  witnesses;  and,  in  his  present 
depressed  state,  he  was  rather  pleased  to  escape  from  public 
observation.  If  he  had  any  malignity,  it  must  have  been 
abundantly  gratified  by  witnessing  the  manner  in  which 
his  browbeating  rival  exposed  himself  on  this  occasion.* 

When  James's  first  parliament  met,  in  the  spring  of  the 
following  year,  Bacon  again  raised  his  crest,  and  made 

1  Works,  v.  281. 

•  Coke,  stopping  Raleigh  in  his  defense,  denounced  him  as  an  atheist, 
saying  he  had  an  English  face  but  a  Spanish  heart.  Cecil,  one  of  the  com- 
missioners, said,  "  Be  not  so  impatient,  Mr.  Attorney ;  give  him  leave  to 
speak." 

Coke.  "If  I  may  not  be  patiently  heard,  you  will  encourage  traitors  and 
discourage  us.  I  am  the  King's  sworn  servant,  and  I  must  speak.  If  he  be 
guilty,  he  is  a  traitor  ;  if  not,  deliver  him." 

Note.  Mr.  Attorney  sat  down  in  a  chafe,  and  would  speak  no  more  until 
the  Commissioners  urged  and  entreated  him.  After  much  ado  he  went  on, 
and  made  a  long  repetition  of  all  the  evidence  for  the  direction  of  the  jury  ; 
and  at  the  repeating  of  some  things  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  interrupted  him,  and 
said  he  did  him  -wrong. 

Coke.     "  Thou  art  the  most  vile  and  execrable  traitor  that  ever  lived." 

Raleigh.     "You  speak  indiscreetly,  barbarously,  and  uncivilly." 

Coke.^    "  I  want  words  sufficient  to  express  your  viperous  treasons." 

Raleigh.  "  I  think  you  want  words,  indeed,  for  you  have  spoken  one  thing 
half  a  dozen  times. 

Coke.  "  Thou  art  an  odious  fellow  :  Thy  name  is  hateful  to  all  the  realm 
of  England  for  thy  pride." 

Raleigh.  "  It  will  go  near  to  prove  a  measuring  cast  between  you  and  me, 
Mr.  Attorney." 

Coke.  "  Well,  I  will  now  make  it  appear  to  the  world  that  there  never  lived 
a  viler  viper  upon  the  face  of  the  earth  than  thou." — 2  St.  Tr.  26. 


1604.]  LORD     BACON.  21 

the  world  forget,  if  not  forgive,  his  past  misconduct. 
Being  returned  to  the  House  of  Commons  both  for  St. 
Alban's  and  Ipswich,  he  chose  to  serve  for  the  latter 
borough,  which  certainly  had  a  most  active  and  able  re- 
presentative. During  this  session  he  spoke  in  every  de- 
bate, he  sat  upon  twenty-nine  committees,  and  he  con- 
trived to  make  himself  popular  by  calling  out  for  a  redress 
of  grievances, — and  a  special  favorite  of  the  King,  by  sup- 
porting James's  pet  plan  of  a  union  with  Scotland.  He 
was  appointed  one  of  the  Commissioners  for  negotiating 
this  great  measure,  and  did  all  he  could  to  soften  the  pre- 
judices of  the  English  nation  against  it. 

Soon  after  the  prorogation,  as  a  mark  of  royal  appro- 
bation, he  was  re-appointed  King's  Counsel,  with  a  salary 
of  forty  pounds  a  year,1  and  a  pension  of  sixty  pounds  a 
year  was  granted  to  him  for  special  services  rendered  to 
the  Crown  by  his  deceased  brother  Anthony  and  himself. 
By  the  death  of  this  brother  he  had  recently  come  into 
possession  of  Gorhambury  and  other  landed  property, 
but  he  was  still  occasionally  obliged  to  borrow  money  by 
pawning  his  valuables.1 

In  the  autumn  of  this  year  Bacon  paid  a  visit  to  his 
friend  Sir  Henry  Saville,  Provost  of  Eton,  and  on  his  return 
addressed  an  interesting  letter  to  him  upon  the  subject  of 
education,  enclosing  a  tract  entitled  "  Helps  to  the  In- 
tellectual Powers,"  which  strongly  inculcated  improved 
methods  of  study. 

Soon  after  he  wrote  a  letter  to  Lord  Chancellor  Elles- 
mere,  with  proposals  to  write  a  History  of  England  ;  and 
he  prepared  a  work,  inscribed  to  the  King,  "  Of  the  great- 
ness of  the  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain,"  with  the  courtly 
motto,  "Fortunatos  nimium  sua  si  bona  norint."* 

To  the  composition  of  such  fugitive  pieces  he  must 
have  resorted  as  a  recreation  while  he  was  elaborating  his 
noble  treatise  on  the  "  Advancement  of  Learning,"  which 

1  This  salary  of  .£40  a  year,  with  an  allowance  of  stationery,  was  continued 
to  all  King's  Counsel  down  to  the  reign  of  William  IV.,  when  it  was  very 
properly  withdrawn,  King's  counselship  becoming  a  grade  in  the  profession  of 
the  law,  instead  of  an  office.  But  the  moderate  salary  of  the  Attorney  General 
was  swept  away  at  the  same  time,  although  he  was  still  compelled  to  pay  the 
land-tax  upon  it. 

8  In  the  Egerton  Papers  there  is  a  receipt  under  date  August  21,  1604,  from 
a  money-lender,  for  "  a  Jewell  of  Susanna  sett  with  diamonds  and  rubys,"  on 
which  he  had  advanced  Sir  Francis  Bacon,  Knt.,  ,£50. — p.  395. 

3  Works,  v.  293. 


22  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.  [1605. 

appeared  in  1605,  and  exceeded  the  high  expectations 
which  had  been  formed  of  it.  His  fame  as  a  philosopher 
and  a  fine  writer  was  now  for  ever  established. 

Yet,  on  the  meeting  of  parliament,  in  November,  he 
plunged  into  business  with  •  unabated  ardor.  When  the 
excitement  of  the  Gunpowder  Plot  had  subsided,  he 
again  brought  forward  a  project  for  improving  the  law  by 
abolishing  "  Wardship,"  and  the  other  grievances  of 
"  Tenure  in  chivalry  ;"  he  made  speeches  as  well  as  wrote 
pamphlets  in  support  of  the  Union ;  and  he  was  active  as 
ever  both  in  debate  and  in  committees. 

But  he  became  much  soured  by  the  reflection  that 
he  derived  little  reward  beyond  praise  for  all  his  exertions. 
He  was  so  much  occupied  with  politics  while  parliament 
was  sitting,  and  with  literature  during  the  recess,  that  his 
private  practice  at  the  bar  was  extremely  slender,  and 
now  in  his  47th  year,  he  could  hardly  bear  the  ill  luck 
by  which  his  official  advancement  had  been  so  long  de- 
layed. 

Coke,  the  Attorney  General,  envying  the  fame  which 
Bacon  had  acquired  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and  by 
his  writings, — which  he  pretended  to  despise, — still  did 
everything  in  his  power  to  depress  him,  and  they  had  an 
interchange  of  sarcasms  from  time  to  time,  although  they 
had  not  again  forgot  the  rules  of  propriety  so  far  as  in 
their  famous  altercation  in  the  time  of  Elizabeth.  But 
Coke's  insolence  increasing,  and  the  recurrence  of  such  a 
scene  seeming  not  improbable,  Bacon  wrote  him  the  fol- 
lowing letter  of  expostulation : 

'•'  Mr.  Attorney, 

"  I  thought  best  once  for  all  to  let  you  know  in  plain- 
ness what  I  find  of  you,  and  what  you  shall  find  of  me. 
You  take  to  yourself  a  liberty  to  disgrace  and  disable  my 
law,  my  experience,  my  discretion.  What  it  pleaseth 
you,  I  pray,  think  of  me:  I  am  one  that  knows  both  mine 
own  wants  and  other  men's,  and  it  may  be  perchance  that 
mine  mend  when  others  stand  at  a  stay.  And  surely  I 
may  not  endure  in  public  place  to  be  wronged  without  re- 
pelling the  same  to  my  best  advantage  to  right  myself. 
You  are  great,  and  therefore  have  the  more  enviers,  which 
would  be  glad  to  have  you  paid  at  another's  cost.  Since 
the  time  I  missed  the  Solicitor's  place,  the  rather  I  think 
by  your  means,  I  can  not  expect  that  you  and  I  shall  ever 


1605.]  LORD    BACON.  23 

serve  as  Attorney  and  Solicitor  together ;  but  either  to 
serve  with  another  upon  your  remove,  or  to  step  into 
some  other  course ;  so  as  I  am  more  free  than  ever  I  was 
from  any  occasion  of  unworthy  conforming  myself  to  you, 
more  than  general  good  manners  or  your  particular  good 
usage  shall  provoke ;  and  if  you  had  not  been  short- 
sighted in  your  own  fortune,  as  I  think,  you  might  have 
had  more  use  of  me.  But  that  tide  is  past.  I  write  not 
this  to  show  my  friends  what  a  brave  letter  I  have  written 
to  Mr.  Attorney;  I  have  none  of  those  humors  ;  but  that 
I  have  written  is  to  a  good  end,  that  is,  to  the  more  de- 
cent carnage  of  my  Master's  service,  and  to  our  par- 
ticular better  understanding  one  of  another.  This  letter, 
if  it  shall  be  answered  by  you  in  deed  and  not  in  word,  I 
suppose  it  will  not  be  worse  for  us  both  ;  else  it  is  but  a 
few  lines  lost,  which  for  a  much  smaller  matter  I  would 
have  adventured.  So  this  being  to  yourself,  I  for  my 
part  rest." ' 

Soon  after  this  letter  was  written,  the  bar  was  relieved 
from  the  tyrant  who  had  ruled  over  it  so  long  with  a  rod 
of  iron,  by  the  promotion  of  Sir  Edward  Coke  to  the 
office  of  Chief  Justice  of  the  Common  Pleas  on  the  death 
of  Lord  Chief  Justice  Gawdey.  In  contemplation  of  this 
move,  Bacon  had  written  a  letter  to  his  cousin,  now  Earl 
of  Salisbury  and  Prime  Minister,  in  which  he  says  : 

"  It  is  thought  Mr.  Attorney  shall  be  Chief  Justice  of 
the  Common  Pleas ;  in  case  the  Solicitor  rise,  I  would  be 
glad  now  at  last  to  be  Solicitor;  chiefly  because  I  think  it 
would  increase  my  practice,  wherein,  God  blessing  me  a 
few  years,  I  may  mend  my  state,  and  so  after  fall  to  my 
studies  at  ease  ;  whereof  one  is  requisite  for  my  body,  and 
the  other  serveth  for  my  mind ;  wherein  if  I  shall  find 
your  Lordship's  favor,  I  shall  be  more  happy  than  I  have 
been,  which  may  may  make  me  also  more  wise.  I  have 
small  store  of  means  about  the  King,  and  to  sue  myself  is 
not  fit ;  and  therefore  I  shall  leave  it  to  God,  his  Majesty, 
and  your  Lordship,  for  I  must  still  be  next  the  door.  I 
thank  God  in  these  transitory  things  I  am  well  resolved."* 

Notwithstanding  this  affected  calmness,  he  immedi- 
ately addressed  another  letter  to  Salisbury,  betraying 
great  anxiety : 

"  I  am  not  ignorant  how  mean  a  thing  I  stand  for,  in 

1  Works,  v  297.  *  Ibid.,  v.  298. 


24  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.  [1605. 

desiring  to  come  into  the  Solicitor's  place  ;  for  I  know 
well  it  is  not  the  thing  it  hath  been, — time  having  wrought 
alteration  both  in  the  profession  and  in  the  special  place. 
Yet  because  I  think  it  will  increase  my  practice,  and  that 
it  may  satisfy  my  friends,  and  because  I  have  been  voiced 
to  it,  I  would  be  glad  it  were  done.  Wherein  I  may  say 
to  your  Lordship  in  the  confidence  of  your  poor  kinsman, 
and  of  a  man  by  you  advanced,  Tu  idem  fer  opem,  quit 
spent  dedisti ;  for  I  am  sure  it  was  not  possible  for  a  man 
living  to  have  received  from  another  more  significant  and 
comfortable  words  of  hope,  your  Lordship  being  pleased 
to  tell  me,  during  the  course  of  my  last  service,  that  you 
would  raise  me,  and  that  when  you  had  resolved  to  raise 
a  man  you  were  more  careful  of  him  than  himself;  and 
that  what  you  had  done  for  me  in  my  marriage  was  a 
benefit  to  me,  but  of  no  use  to  your  Lordship,  and  there- 
fore I  might  assure  myself  you  would  not  leave  me 
there ; — with  many  like  speeches,  which  I  know  my  duty 
too  well  to  take  any  other  hold  of,  than  the  hold  of  a  thank- 
ful remembrance.  And  I  acknowledge,  and  all  the  world 
knoweth,  that  your  Lordship  is  no  dealer  of  holy  water, 
but  noble  and  real ;  and  on  my  part  I  am  of  a  sure  ground 
that  I  have  committed  nothing  that  may  deserve  altera- 
tion. And  therefore  my  hope  is,  your  Lordship  will  finish 
a  good  work,  and  consider  that  time  groweth  precious 
with  me,  that  I  am  now  in  vergentibus  annis.  And  although 
I  know  that  your  fortune  is  not  to  need  an  hundred  such  « 
as  I  am,  yet  I  shall  be  ever  ready  to  give  you  my  first  and 
best  fruits,  and  to  supply  as  much  as  in  me  lieth  worthi- 
ness by  thankfulness."1 

Bacon  was  again  disappointed.  From  some  intrigue 
not  explained  to  us,  of  which  his  old  enemy  Sir  Edward 
Coke  was  the  author,  Sir  Henry  Hobart  was  put  into  the 
office  of  Attorney  General,  and  there  was  no  vacancy  in 
that  of  Solicitor.  He  expressed  such  deep  resentment, 
that  an  expedient  was  proposed  to  create  a  vacancy  by 
making  the  Solicitor  General  King's  Sergeant,  with  a 
promise  of  farther  promotion.  Bacon  sought  to  quicken 
this  job  by  the  following  letter  to  the  Lord  Chancellor  :— 

"  It  may  please  your  good  Lordship: — As  I  conceived 
it  to  be  a  resolution,  both   with  his  Majesty  and  among 
your  Lordships  of  his  Council,  that  I  should  be  placed 
1  Works,  v.  299. 


1605.]  LORD    BACON.  25 

Solicitor,  and  the  Solicitor  to  be  removed  to  be  the  King's 
Sergeant  ;  so  I  must  thankfully  acknowledge  your  Lord- 
ship's furtherance  and  forwardness  therein  ;  your  Lordship 
being  the  man  who  first  devised  the  mean  ;  wherefore,  my 
humble  request  to  your  Lordship  is,  that  you  would  set  in 
with  some  strength  to  finish  this  your  work;  which,  I 
assure  your  Lordship,  I  desire  the  rather,  because,  being 
placed,  I  hope  for  many  favors  at  last  to  be  able  to  do 
you  some  little  service.  For  as  I  am,  your  Lordship  can 
not  use  me,  nor  scarcely  indeed  know  me.  Not  that  I 
vainly  think  I  slnll  be  able  to  do  any  great  matters,  but 
certainly  it  will  frame  me  to  use  a  more  industrious  ob- 
servance and  application  to  such  as  I  honor  so  much  as  I 
do  your  Lordship,  and  not,  I  hope,  without  some  good 
offices  which  may  now  and  then  deserve  your  thanks. 
And  herewithal,  good  my  Lord,  I  humbly  pray  your 
Lordship  to  consider  that  time  groweth  precious  with  me, 
and  that  a  married  man  is  seven  years  older  in  his  thoughts 
the  first  day  ;  and  therefore  what  a  discomfortable  thing 
it  is  for  me  to  be  unsettled  still  ?  Certainly,  were  it  not 
that  I  think  myself  born  to  do  my  Sovereign  service,  and 
therefore  in  that  station  I  will  live  and  die  ;  otherwise  for 
mine  own  private  comfort,  it  were  better  for  me  that  the 
King  should  blot  me  out  of  his  book;  or  that  1  should 
turn  my  course  to  endeavor  to  serve  in  some  other  kind, 
than  for  me  to  stand  thus  at  a  stop ;  and  to  have  that 
little  reputation,  which,  by  my  industry,  I  gather,  to  be 
scattered  and  taken  away  by  continual  disgraces,  every 
new  man  coming  above  me.  Sure  I  am  I  shall  never  have 
fairer  promises  and  words  from  your  Lordships.  For  I 
know  what  my  services  are,  saving  that  your  Lordships 
told  me  they  were  good,  and  I  would  believe  you  in  a 
much  greater  matter.  Were  it  nothing  else,  I  hope  the 
modesty  of  my  suit  deserveth  somewhat  ;  for  I  know  well 
the  Solicitor's  place  is  not  as  your  Lordship  left  it ;  time 
working  alteration,  somewhat  in  the  profession,  much 
more  in  that  special  place.  And  were  it  not  to  satisfy 
my  wife's  friends,  and  to  get  myself  out  of  being  a  com- 
mon gaze  and  a  speech,  I  protest  before  God  I  would 
never  speak  a  word  for  it.  But  to  conclude,  as  my  hon- 
orable Lady,  your  wife,  was  some  mean  to  make  me  change 
the  name  of  another  ;  so  if  it  please  you  to  help  me  to 
change  mine  own  name,  I  can  be  but  more  and  more 


26  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.          [1605. 

bounden  to  you ;  and  I  am  much  deceived  if  your  Lord- 
ship find  not  the  King  well  inclined,  and  my  Lord  of 
Salisbury  forward  and  affectionate."  ' 

However,  great  difficulties  were  experienced  from  Mr. 
Solicitor's  unwillingness  to  resign,  and  Bacon,  in  despair, 
addressed  the  following  letter  to  King  James  : — 

"  How  honestly  ready  I  have  been,  most  gracious 
Sovereign,  to  do  your  Majesty  humble  service  to  the  best 
of  my  power,  and,  in  a  manner,  beyond  my  power,  as  I 
now  stand,  I  am  not  so  unfortunate  but  your  Majesty  know- 
eth.  For  both  in  the  Commission  of  Union,  labor  whereof, 
for  men  of  my  profession,  rested  most  upon  my  hand  ; 
and  this  last  parliament,  in  tl>e  bill  of  the  subsidy,  both 
body  and  preamble  ;  in  the  matter  of  the  purveyance;  in 
the  ecclesiastical  petitions ;  in  the  grievances,  and  the 
like  ;  as  I  was  ever  careful,  and  not  without  good  success, 
sometimes  to  put  forward  that  which  was  good,  some- 
times to  keep  back  that  which  was  not  so  good ;  so  your 
Majesty  was  pleased  kindly  to  accept  of  my  services,  and 
to  say  to  me,  such  conflicts  were  the  wars  of  peace,  and 
such  victories  the  victories  of  peace ;  and  therefore  such 
servants  as  obtained  them  were,  by  Kings  that  reign  in 
peace,  no  less  to  be  esteemed  than  services  of  command- 
ers in  the  wars.  In  all  which,  nevertheless,  I  can  chal- 
lenge to  myself  no  sufficiency,  but  that  I  was  diligent  and 
reasonably  happy  to  execute  those  directions  which  I  re- 
ceived either  immediately  from  your  royal  mouth,  or  from 
my  Lord  of  Salisbury :  at  which  time  it  pleased  your 
Majesty  also  promise  and  assure  me,  that  upon  the  re- 
move of  the  then  Attorney  I  should  not  be  forgotten,  but 
brought  into  ordinary  place.  And  this  was  after  con- 
firmed to  me  by  many  of  my  Lords,  and  towards  the  end 
of  the  last  term  the  manner  also  in  particular  was  spoken 
of:  that  is,  that  Mr.  Solicitor  should  be  made  your  Maj- 
esty's Serjeant,  and  I  Solicitor ;  for  so  it  was  thought 
best  to  sort  with  both  our  gifts  and  faculties  for  the  good 
of  your  service ;  and  of  this  resolution  both  court  and 
country  took  knowledge.  Neither  was  this  any  invention 
or  project  of  mine  own  ;  but  moved  from  my  Lords,  and 
I  think  first  from  my  Lord  Chancellor ;  whereupon  rest- 
ing, your  Majesty  well  knoweth  I  never  opened  my  mouth 
for  the  greater  Dlace ;  though  I  am  sure  I  had  two  cir- 

1  Works,  v.  300. 


1607.]  LORD    BACON.  27 

cumstances  that  Mr.  Attorney,  that  now  is,  could  not 
allege :  the  one,  nine  years'  service  of  the  Crown  ;  the 
other,  the  being  cousin-germain  to  the  Lord  of  Salisbury, 
whom  your  Majesty  esteemeth  and  trusteth  so  much. 
But  for  the  less  place,  I  conceived  it  was  meant  me.  But 
after  that  Mr.  Attorney  Hobart  was  placed,  I  heard  no 
more  of  my  preferment ;  but  it  seemed  to  be  at  a  stop, 
to  my  great  disgrace  and  discouragement.  For,  gracious 
Sovereign,  if  still,  when  the  waters  are  stirred,  another 
shall  be  put  in  before  me,  your  Majesty  had  need  work  a 
miracle,  or  else  I  shall  be  still  a  lame  man  to  do  your 
Majesty  service.  And,  therefore,  my  most  humble  suit  to 
your  Majesty  is,  that  this,  which  seemed  to  me  intended, 
may  speedily  be  performed  ;  and,  I  hope,  my  former  ser- 
vice shall  be  but  as  beginnings  to  better,  when  I  am  bet- 
ter strengthened :  for,  sure  I  am,  no  man's  heart  is  fuller. 
I  say  not  but  many  may  have  greater  hearts  ;  but,  I  say, 
not  fuller  of  love  and  duty  towards  your  Majesty  and  your 
children,  as  I  hope  time  will  manifest  against  envy  and 
detraction,  if  any  be.  To  conclude,  I  must  humbly  crave 
pardon  for  my  boldness,  and  rest,  &c."  l 

All  parties  were  joyfully  relieved  from  this  embarrass- 
ment by  the  opportune  death  of  Popham,  Chief  Justice 
of  the  King's  Bench  ;  and  in  consequence  of  the  legal 
promotions  which  then  took  place,  on  the  2$th  day  of 
June,  in  the  fifth  year  of  the  reign  of  King  James,  and  in 
the  year  of  grace,  1607,  Francis  Bacon  at  last  became  Solic- 
itor General  to  the  Crown  !  It  was  an  infelicity  in  his  lot 
that,  notwithstanding  his  capacity  and  his  services,  he 
never  was  promoted  to  any  office  without  humiliating 
solicitations  to  ministers,  favorites,  and  sovereigns. 

The  new  Solicitor,  who  had  made  a  most  elaborate 
speech  in  favor  of  the  Union  with  Scotland,  pressing  into 
his  service  the  stories  of  Alexander  and  Parmenio,  of 
Abraham  and  Lot,  and  of  Solon  and  Croesus,  and  boldly 
combating  the  argument,  that,  if  the  measure  were 
adopted,  England  would  be  overrun  with  Scots;  finding 
that  the  English  House  of  Commons  would  not  even  pass 
a  bill  for  the  preliminary  step  of  naturalizing  their  north- 
ern fellow  subjects,  now  resorted  to  the  expedient  of  ob- 
taining a  judicial  decision,  that  all  the  Postnati  were 
naturalized  by  operation  of  law.  He  argued  the  case  very 

1  Works,  v.  302. 


28  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    /.          [1612. 

learnedly  in  the  Exchequer  Chamber;  and,  what  was 
probably  more  efficacious,  he  labored  the  Judges  out  of 
Court  to  bring  them  to  the  King's  wishes.1  Hobart,  the 
Attorney  General,  was,a  shy  and  timid  man,  and  the  chief 
direction  of  the  law  business  of  the  Crown  was  left  to 
Bacon. 

The  only  prosecution  of  much  consequence  during  the 
six  years  he  was  Solicitor  General  was  that  of  Lord  San- 
quhar  for  the  murder  of  the  fencing  master,  who  had  ac- 
cidentally put  out  one  of  the  northern's  peer's  eyes  in 
playing  at  rapier  and  dagger.  This  he  conducted  with  a 
becoming  mixture  of  firmness  and  mildness.  After  clearly 
stating  the  law  and  the  facts,  he  thus  addressed  the  pris- 
oner : — *'  I  will  conclude  towards  you,  my  Lord,  that 
though  your  offense  hath  been  great,  yet  your  confession 
hath  been  free  ;  and  this  shows  that,  though  you  could 
not  resist  the  tempter,  yet  you  bear  a  Christian  and  gen- 
erous mind,  answerable  to  the  noble  family  of  which  you 
are  descended."8  The  conviction  and  execution  of  this 
Scotch  nobleman  have  been  justly  considered  as  reflecting 
great  credit  on  the  administration  of  justice  in  the  reign 
of  James. 

Bacon's  practice  at  the  bar,  as  he  expected,  did  increase 
considerably  by  the  prestige  of  office.  The  most  import- 
ant civil  case  in  which  he  was  concerned  was  that  of 
Sutton's  Hospital,  in  which  the  validity  of  the  noble 
foundation  of  the  Charter  House  was  established  against 
his  strenuous  and  able  efforts.3 

A  new  court  being  created,  called  the  "  Court  of  the 
Verge  of  the  Palace,"  he  was  appointed  Judge  of  it,  and 
he  opened  it  with  a  charge  to  the  jury,  recommending  a 
strict  execution  of  the  law  against  dueling. 

Mr.  Solicitor  in  the  meantime  steadily  went  on  with  his 
philosophical  labors,  of  which  he  occasionally  gave  a  taste 
to  the  world  in  anticipation  of  what  was  hereafter  to  be 
expected.  He  now  published  the  "  Cogitata  et  Visa," 
perhaps  his  most  wonderful  effort  of  subtle  reasoning,  and 
the  "  De  Sapientia  Veterum,"  decidedly  his  most  suc- 
cessful display  of  imagination  and  wit.  Of  these  he  sent 
copies  to  his  friend,  Mr.  Matthew,  saying,  "  My  great  work4 
goeth  forward,  and  after  my  manner,  I  alter  ever  when  I 

1  2  St.  Tr.  559.     Case  of  Postnati.    Works,  vol.  iv.  319. 

2  2  St.  Tr.  743.  3  10  Co.  I.  4  Novum  Organum. 


i6i2.]  LORD    BACON.  29 

add."  He  likewise  published  a  new  and  greatly  enlarged 
edition  of  his  Essays. 

But,  after  all,  what  was  nearest  his  heart  was  his  official 
advancement.  He  was  impatient  to  be  Attorney  General, 
for  the  superior  profit  and  dignity  of  that  situation  ; — and 
to  secure  it  to  himself  on  the  next  vacancy,  he  wrote  the 
following  letter  to  the  King: — 

"  It  may  please  your  Majesty, 

"  Your  great  and  princely  favors  towards  me,  in  ad- 
vancing me  to  place ;  and,  that  which  is  to  me  of  no  less 
comfort,  your  Majesty's  benign  and  gracious  acceptation, 
from  time  to  time,  of  my  poor  services,  much  above  the 
merit  and  value  of  them  ;  hath  almost  brought  me  to  an 
opinion,  that  I  may  sooner,  perchance,  be  wanting  to  my- 
self in  not  asking,  than  find  your  Majesty  wanting  to  me 
in  any  my  reasonable  and  modest  desires.  And,  there- 
fore, perceiving  how,  at  this  time,  preferments  of  law  fly 
about  mine  ears,  to  some  above  me,  and  to  some  below 
me,  I  did  conceive  your  Majesty  may  think  it  rather  a 
kind  of  dulness,  or  want  of  faith,  than  modesty,  if  I  should 
not  come  with  my  pitcher  to  Jacob's  well  as  others  do. 
Wherein  I  shall  propound  to  your  Majesty  that  which 
tendeth  not  so  much  to  the  raising  of  my  fortune,  as  to 
the  settling  of  my  mind ;  being  sometimes  assailed  with 
this  cogitation,  that  by  reason  of  my  slowness  to  see  and 
apprehend  sudden  occasions,  keeping  in  one  plain  course 
of  painful  service,  I  may,  in  fine  dierum,  be  in  danger  to 
be  neglected  and'  forgotten  ;  and  if  that  should  be,  then 
were  it  much  better  for  me  now,  while  I  stand  in  your 
Majesty's  good  opinion,  though  unworthy,  and  have  some 
little  reputation  in  the  world,  to  give  over  the  course  I  am 
in,  and  to  make  proof  to  do  you  some  honor  by  my  pen, 
either  by  writing  some  faithful  narrative  of  your  happy, 
though  not  untraduced  times;  or  by  recompiling  your 
laws,  which  I  perceive  your  Majesty  laboreth  with,  and 
hath  in  your  head,  as  Jupiter  had  Pallas,  or  some  other 
the  like  work,  for  without  some  endeavor  to  do  you  honor 
I  would  not  live  ;  than  to  spend  my  wits  and  time  in  this 
laborious  place  wherein  I  now  serve  ;  if  it  shall  be  de- 
prived of  those  outward  ornaments  which  it  was  wont  to 
have,  in  respect  of  an  assured  succession  to  some  place  of 
more  dignity  and  rest,  which  seemeth  now  to  be  an  hope 
altogether  casual,  if  not  wholly  intercepted.  Wherefore, 


30  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    /.          [1612. 

not  to  hold  your  Majesty  long,  my  humble  suit  to  your 
Majesty  is  that,  than  the  which  I  can  not  well  go  lower  ; 
which  is,  that  I  may  obtain  your  royal  promise  to  succeed, 
if  I  live,  into  the  Attorney's  place,  whensoever  it  shall  be 
void  ;  it  being  but  the  natural  and  immediate  step  and 
rise  which  the  place  I  now  hold  hath  ever,  in  sort,  made 
claim  to,  and  almost  never  failed  of.  In  this  suit  I  make 
no  friends  but  to  your  Majesty,  rely  upon  no  other  motive 
but  your  grace,  nor  any  other  assurance  but  your  word  ; 
whereof  I  had  good  experience,  when  I  came  to  the  Solic- 
itor's place,  that  it  was  like  to  the  two  great  lights,  which 
in  their  motions  are  never  retrograde.  So  with  my  best 
prayers  for  your  Majesty's  happiness,.  I  rest."1 

James  admitted  him  to  an  audience,  and  promised,  on  the 
word  of  a  King,  that  his  request  should  be  granted.  Some 
time  after,  Hobart  fell  dangerously  ill,  upon  which  Bacon 
wrote  to  remind  his  Majesty  of  his  promise. 

"  It  may  please  your  most  excellent  Majesty, 

"  I  do  understand  by  some  of  my  good  friends,  to  my 
great  comfort,  that  your  Majesty  hath  in  mind  your  Maj- 
esty's royal  promise,  which  to  me  is  anchora  spei,  touching 
the  Attorney's  place.  I  hope  Mr.  Attorney  shall  do  well. 
I  thank  God  I  wish  no  man's  death,  nor  much  mine  own 
life,  more  than  to  do  your  Majesty's  service.  For  I  ac- 
count my  life  the  accident,  and  my  duty  the  substance. 
For  this  I  will  be  bold  to  say,  if  it  please  God  that  I  ever 
serve  your  Majesty  in  the  Attorney's  place,  I  have  known 
an  Attorney  Coke,  and  an  Attorney  Hobart,  both  worthy 
men,  and  far  above  myself;  but  if  I  should  not  find  a  mid- 
dle way  between  their  two  dispositions  and  carriages,  I 
should  not  satisfy  myself.  But  these  things  are  far  or 
near,  as  it  shall  please  God.  Meanwhile,  I  most  humbly 
pray  your  Majesty  to  accept  my  sacrifice  of  thanksgiving 
for  your  gracious  favor.  God  preserve  your  Majesty.  I 
ever  remain, "  " 

If  he  was  sincere  in  his  hope  that  "  Mr.  Attorney 
should  do  well,"  he  was  gratified  by  Sir  Henry's  entire 
recovery. 

Nevertheless,  on  the  death  of  Fleming,  the  object  was, 
with  a  little  intriguing,  accomplished.  Bacon  immediately 
wrote  the  following  letter  to  the  King: — 

1  Works,  v.  322.  *  Works,  v.  323. 


1612.]  LORD    BACON.  31 

"  It  may  please  your  most  excellent  Majesty, 
"  Having  understood  of  the  death  of  the  Lord  Chief 
Justice,  I  do  ground  in  all  humbleness  as  an  assured  hope, 
that  your  Majesty  will  not  think  of  any  other  but  your 
poor  servants,  your  Attorney  and  your  Solicitor,  one  of 
them  for  that  place.  Else  we  shall  be  like  Noah's  dove,  not 
knowing  where  to  rest  our  feet.  For  the  places  of  rest  after 
the  extreme  painful  places  wherein  we  serve  have  used  to 
be  either  the  Lord  Chancellor's  place,  or  the  Mastership 
of  the  Rolls,  or  the  places  of  Chief  Justices ;  whereof 
for  the  first  I  could  be  almost  loth  to  live  to  see  this 
worthy  Chancellor  fail.1  The  Mastership  of  the  Rolls  is 
blocked  with  a  reversion.*  My  Lord  Coke  is  likely  to  out- 
live us  both.  So  as,  if  this  turn  fail,  I  for  my  part  know 
not  whither  to  look.  I  have  served  your  Majesty  above  a 
prenticehood  full  seven  years  and  more  as  your  Solicitor, 
which  is,  I  think,  one  of  the  painfulest  places  in  your 
kingdom,  especially  as  my  employments  have  been ;  and 
God  hath  brought  mine  own  years  to  fifty-two,  which  I 
think  is  older  than  ever  any  Solicitor  continued  unpre- 
ferred.  My  suit  is  principally  that  you  would  remove  Mr. 
Attorney  to  the  place.  If  he  refuse,  then  I  hope  your 
Majesty  will  seek  no  farther  than  myself,  that  I  may  at 
last,  out  of  your  Majesty's  grace  and  favor,  step  forwards 
to  a  place  either  of  more  comfort  or  more  ease.  Besides, 
how  necessary  it  is  for  your  Majesty  to  strengthen  your 
service  amongst  the  Judges  by  a  Chief  Justice  which  is 
sure  to  your  prerogative,  your  Majesty  knoweth.  There- 
fore I  cease  farther  to  trouble  your  Majesty,  humbly  crav- 
ing pardon,  and  relying  wholly  on  your  goodness  and  re- 
membrance, and  resting  in  all  true  humbleness,  &c."8 

The  King  was  ready  to  appoint  either  the  Attorney  or 
Solicitor;  but  Hobart  was  unwilling  to  resign  his  present 
office,  thrice  as  profitable  as  that  offered  him  and  held  by 
as  good  a  tenure, — and  Bacon  himself,  notwithstanding 
what  he  said  about  the  worthy  Chancellor  Ellesmere, 
was  eager  for  the  Great  Seal.  He  therefore  resorted  to  a 
most  masterly  stroke  of  policy, — to  remove  Coke  to  the 
King's  Bench,  and  to  make  a  vacancy  in  the  office  of 
Chief  Justice  of  the  Common  Pleas,  which,  from  its  supe- 
rior profit  as  well  as  quiet,  Hobart  was  very  willing  to 

1  Ellesmere.  *  Lord  Kinlosse  to  be  succeeded  by  Sir  Julius  Caesar. 

3  Works,  vi.  70. 


32  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.          [1612. 

accept.     With  this  view  he  drew  up  and  submitted  to  the 
King — 

"  Reasons  why  it  should  be  exceedingly  much  for  his 
Majesty's  service  to  remove  the  Lord  Coke  from  the 
place  he  now  holdeth  to  be  Chief  Justice  of  England, 
and  the  Attorney  to  succeed  him,  and  the  Solicitor  the 
Attorney. 

"  First,  it  will  strengthen  the  King's  causes  greatly 
amongst  the  Judges,  for  both  my  Lord  Coke  will  think 
himself  near  a  Privy  Councillor's  place,  and  thereupon 
turn  obsequious,  and  the  Attorney  General,  a  new  man 
and  a  grave  person  in  a  Judge's  place,  will  come  in  well 
to  the  other,  and  hold  him  hard  to  it,  not  without  emula- 
tion between  them  who  shall  please  the  King  best. 

"  Secondly,  the  Attorney  General  sorteth  not  so  well 
with  his  present  place,  being  a  man  timid  and  scrupulous, 
both  in  parliament  and  other  business,  and  one,  in  a  word, 
that  was  made  fit  for  the  late  Lord  Treasurer's  seat,  which 
was  to  do  little  with  much  formality  and  protestation ; 
whereas  the  new  Solicitor  going  more  roundly  to  work,  and 
being  of  a  quicker  and  more  earnest  temper,  and  more  effec- 
tual in  that  he  deakth  in,  is  like  to  recover  that  strength  to 
the  King's  prerogative  which  it  hath  had  in  times  past, 
and  which  is  due  unto  it.  And  for  that  purpose  there 
must  be  brought  to  be  Solicitor  some  man  of  courage  and 
speech,  and  a  grounded  lawyer;  which  done,  his  Majesty 
will  speedily  find  a  marvelous  change  in  his  business. 
For  it  is  not  to  purpose  for  the  Judges  to  stand  well  dis- 
posed, except  the  King's  counsel,  which  is  the  active  and 
moving  part,  put  the  Judges  well  to  it ;  for  in  a  weapon, 
what  is  a  back  without  an  edge? 

"  Thirdly,  the  King  shall  continue  and  add  reputation 
to  the  Attorney's  and  Solicitor's  place  by  this  orderly 
advancement  of  them  ;  which  two  places  are  the  cham- 
pions' places  for  his  rights  and  prerogative,  and,  being 
stripped  of  their  expectations  and  successions  to  great 
place,  will  wax  vile,  and  then  his  Majesty's  prerogative 
goeth  down  the  wind.  Besides  this  remove  of  my  Lord 
Coke  to  a  place  of  less  profit,  though  it  be  with  his  will, 
yet  will  be  thought  abroad  a  kind  of  discipline  to  him  for 
opposing  himself  in  the  King's  causes,  the  example 
whereof  will  contain  others  in  more  awe." ' 

1  Works,  vi.  71. 


1 6 14-]  LORD    BACON.  33 

This  plan  was  immediately  adopted :  Hobart,  the  At- 
torney General,  became  Chief  Justice  of  the  Common 
Pleas,  and  Bacon  Attorney  General. 

Soon  after,  the  new  Chief  Justice  of  the  King's  Bench, 
meeting  the  new  Attorney  General,  said  to  him,  "  Mr. 
Attorney,  this  is  all  your  doing :  it  is  you  that  has  made 
this  stir."  Mr.  Attorney  answered,  "  Ah,  my  Lord,  your 
Lordship  all  this  while  has  grown  in  breadth ;  you  must 
needs  now  grow  in  height,  or  else  you  would  be  a  mon- 
ster."1 The  rivalry  between  them,  as  we  shall  see,  went 
on  with  fresh  animosity. 

Bacon  might  now  be  considered  the  principal  political 
adviser  of  the  Crown.  Salisbury  was  dead  ;  Carr,  from  a 
raw  Scotch  lad  to  whom  James  taught  the  rudiments  of 
the  Latin  tongue,  had  become  Earl  of  Somerset,  Lord 
Chamberlain,  the  King's  prime  favorite,  the  dispenser  of 
patronage,  and  a  person  universally  courted  and  flattered ; 
but  so  contemptible  was  his  understanding,  and  such  was 
his  incapacity  for  business,  that  in  affairs  of  state  James 
was  obliged  to  resort  to  other  councillors.  Bacon,  though 
not  by  any  means  disdaining  to  avail  himself  of  the  pro- 
tecti'on  of  a  favorite  (as  he  had  shown  in  the  time  of 
Essex,  and  as  he  speedily  again  showed  on  the*  rise  of 
Villiers,)  had  never  much  connection  with  Somerset, — 
perhaps  from  not  being  able  to  make  himself  appreciated 
by  such  a  simpleton,  or  perhaps  from  foreseeing  that  the 
royal  fancy  for  him  must  be  fleeting.  The  Attorney  Gen- 
eral was  in  direct  communication  with  the  King,  and  for 
a  considerable  time  had  great  influence  in  his  councils. 
His  first  advice  was  constitutional  and  wise, — to  discon- 
tinue the  irregular  expedients  which  had  been  resorted  to 
for  some  years  for  raising  money,  and  to  ask  for  a  supply 
from  a  new  parliament.  But  he  overrated  the  influence 
he  should  have  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and  he  was 
not  sufficiently  aware  of  the  growing  national  discontent. 

Being  re-elected  since  his  last  appointment,  he  was  about 
to  take  his  seat,  when  a  Mr.  Duncombe  raised  the  ques- 
tion— "  Whether  the  Attorney  General  might  be  elected, 
in  respect  there  was  no  precedent  that  such  an  officer  of 
the  Crown  could  be  chosen  member  of  the  house  ?"* 
Bacon's  friends  answered,  that  Sir  Henry  Hobart  had 

1  Lord  Bacon's  Apophthegms,  or  Jest  Book.     Works,  vol.  ii.  421. 
'  I   Parl.  Hist.  1159 
ill. — 3 


34  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.  [1614. 

been  allowed  to  sit  while  Attorney  General ;  but  so  much 
do  opinions  on  such  subjects  vary  from  age  to  age,  that 
the  House  then  agreed  that  this  case  did  not  apply, 
as  he  was  a  member  of  the  House  when  he  was  made 
Attorney  General,  and  therefore  could  not  be  unseated. 

Sir  Roger  Owen  argued  that  no  Attorney  General  was 
ever  chosen,  nor  anciently  any  Privy  Councillor,  nor  any 
that  took  livery  of  the  King.  He  relied  on  the  authority 
of  Sir  Thomas  More,  who,  after  he  had  been  Speaker  and 
Chancellor,  said, — "  that  the  eye  of  a  King's  courtier  can 
endure  no  colors  but  one,  the  King's  livery  hindering 
their  sight."  He  compared  those  holding  office  at  the 
King's  pleasure  to  "a  cloud  gilded  by  the  rays  of  the  sun, 
and  to  brass  coin  which  the  King's  stamp  makes  current." 
Sir  John  Saville  moved  "that  those  Privy  Councillors  who 
had  got  seats  might  stay  for  that  time,  but  Mr.  Attorney 
should  not  serve  in  that  House." 

After  a  committee  to  search  for  precedents,  it  was  re- 
solved that  "  Mr.  Attorney  General  Bacon  remain  in  the 
House  for  this  parliament,  but  never  any  Attorney 
General  to  serve  in  the  lower  House  in  future."  The 
right  of  the  Attorney  General  to  sit  as  a  member  of  the 
House  of  Commons  has  not  since  been  seriously  ques- 
tioned. As  he  is  summoned  according  to  immemorial 
usage  to  advise  the  House  of  Lords,  and  ought  to  return 
his  writ  and  to  take  his  place  on  the  woolsack,  it  is  easy 
to  conceive  that  conflicting  duties  might  be  cast  upon 
him ;  but  his  attendance  on  the  Lords  is  dispensed  with, 
except  in  Peerage  cases,  and  it  has  been  found  much  more 
convenient  that  he  should  be  allowed  to  act  as  law  adviser 
to  the  House  of  Commons,  which  might  otherwise  be 
inops  concihi, 

Mr.  Attorney  made  his  first  and  only  speech  in  this 
parliament  to  press  for  supplies.  He  began  by  observing, 
"  that  since  they  had  been  pleased  to  retain  him  there,  he 
owed  them  the  best  offices  he  could,  and  if  they  had  dis- 
missed him  his  wishes  would  have  been  still  with  them." 
He  then  most  elaborately  pointed  out  the  King's  wants 
and  the  necessity  for  supplying  them,  ridiculing  the 
notion  that  had  gone  abroad  that  a  confederacy  had 
been  formed  to  control  the  free  will  of  the  House,  and 
again  bringing  out  his  favorite  and  unlucky  quotation, — 
"  Dulcis  tractus  pari  jugo." 


1615.]  LORD    BACON.  35 

But  a  majority  were  much  more  inclined  to  inquire  into 
monoplies  and  other  grievances, — and  parliament  was 
abruptly  dissolved. 

After  the  effort  he  had  made  to  obtain  supplies  by 
constitutional  means,  Bacon  seems  to  have  thought  that 
all  expedients  by  which  the  Exchequer  might  be  filled 
were  justifiable. 

The  most  productive  of  these  was  the  demanding  of 
"  Benevolences."  Letters  were  written  to  the  sheriffs  of 
counties  and  the  magistrates  'of  corporations,  calling  on 
the  King's  loving  subjects  to  contribute  to  his  necessities. 
The  contributions  were  supposed  to  be  voluntary,  but 
were  in  reality  compulsory,  for  all  who  refused  were  de- 
nounced and  treated  as  disloyal.  Oliver  St.  John  having 
written  a  letter  to  the  Mayor  of  Marlborough,  represent- 
ing that  this  "  Benevolence  "  was  contrary  to  law,  and 
that  the  magistrates  ought  not  to  assist  in  collecting  it, 
the  Attorney  General  prosecuted  him  in  the  Star  Chamber 
for  a  libel.  In  his  speech  he  strenuously  defended  this 
mode  of  raising  money ;  and  for  the  reason  that  "  it  is  fit 
to  burn  incense  where  ill  odors  have  been  cast,"  he  de- 
livefed  an  elaborate  panegyric  on  the  government  of  King 
James,  whom  he  described  as  a  constant  protector  of  the 
liberties,  laws,  and  customs  of  the  kingdom,  maintaining 
religion  not  only  with  sceptre  and  sword,  but  by  his  pen. 
The  defendant  was  sentenced  to  pay  a  fine  of  £5,000,  to 
be  imprisoned  during  the  King's  pleasure,  and  to  make  a 
written  submission.  Bacon's  indiscriminate  admirers  con- 
tend that  he  is  exempt  from  all  blame  in  this  proceeding, 
because  the  judges  declared  that  the  levying  of  "  Benevo- 
lences "  was  not  contrary  to  any  statute,  and  Lord  Chan- 
cellor Ellesmere  solemnly  expressed  a  wish  that  passing 
sentence  on  Mr.  St.  John  might  be  "his  last  act  of  judicial 
duty ; "  but  there  could  not  be  a  doubt  that  raising 
"  Benevolences,"  was  in  substance  levying  an  aid  without 
authority  of  parliament,  and  that  the  person  was  morally 
responsible  for  the  misconduct  of  the  Judges  who  put 
them  in  a  position  where  they  must  either  pervert  the  law 
or  forfeit  their  offices.1 

The  blame  here  imputable  to  Bacon,  however,  was  light 
indeed  compared  with  what  he  incurred  in  a  case  which 
soon  followed.  Fine  and  imprisonment  having  no  effect 
1  2  St.  Tr.  899. 


36  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.          [1615. 

in  quelling  the  rising  murmurs  of  the  people,  it  was  re- 
solved to  make  a  more  dreadful  example,  and  Peacham,  a 
clergyman  of  Somersetshire,  between  sixty  and  seventy 
years  of  age,  was  selected  for  the  victim.  On  breaking 
into  his  study,  a  sermon  was  there  found  which  he  had 
never  preached,  nor  intended  to  preach,  nor  shown  to 'any 
human  being,  but  which  contained  some  passages  en- 
couraging the  people  to  resist  tyranny.  He  was  imme- 
diately arrested,  and  a  resolution  was  taken  to  prosecute 
him  for  high  treason.  But  Mr.  Attorney,  who  is  alone 
responsible  for  this  atrocious  proceeding,  anticipated  con- 
siderable difficulties  both  in  law  and  fact  before  the  poor 
old  parson  could  be  subjected  to  a  cruel  and  ignominious 
death.  He  therefore  first  began  by  tampering  with  the 
Judges  of  the  King's  Bench,  to  fix  them  by  an  extra- 
judicial  opinion.  His  plan  was  to  assail  them  separately, 
and  therefore  he  skillfully  called  in  his  subordinates, — 
assigning  Justice  Dodderidge  to  the  Solicitor  General, 
Justice  Crook  to  Sergeant  Montague,  and  Justice  Hough- 
ton  to  Sergeant  Crew, — and  directing  these  emissaries 
that  "  they  should  not  in  any  case  make  any  doubt  to  the 
Judges, — as  if  they  mistrusted  they  would  not  deliver  any 
opinion  apart,  but  should  speak  resolutely  to  them."  The 
Chief  Justice  he  reserved  for  his  own  management, — "  not 
being  wholly  without  hope,"  says  he,  "  that  my  Lord 
Coke  himself,  when  I  have  in  some  dark  manner  put  him 
in  doubt  that  he  shall  be  left  alone,  will  not  -continue 
singular."  The  puisnes  were  pliant.  The  Chief  at  first 
affirmed,  that  "such  auricular  taking  of  opinions  was  not 
according  to  the  custom  of  this  realm  ;"  but  at  last  yielded 
to  Bacon's  remonstrance,  that  "though  Judges  might 
make  a  suit  to  be  spared  for  their  opinion  till  they  had 
spoken  with  their  brethren,  if  the  King  upon  his  own 
princely  judgment,  for  reason  of  estate,  should  think  fit  to 
have  it  otherwise,  there  was  no  declining — nay,  that  it 
touched  on  a  violation  of  their  oath,  which  was,  to  counsel 
the  King  whether  it  were  jointly  or  separately."1 

Still,  without  some  further  evidence,  a  mere  sermon 
found  in  a  study  seemed  rather  a  slender  overt  act  to  be 
submitted  to  a  jury  of  compassing  the  King's  death.  To 
supply  the  deficiency,  it  was  resolved  to  subject  Peacham 
to  the  rack.  Interrogatories  were  prepared  to  draw  a 

1  Letters  to  King.     Works,  vol.  v.  338,  343. 


1615.]  LORD      BACON.  37 

confession  from  him  of  his  object  and  of  his  accomplices 
in  writing  the  sermon,  and  "  upon  these  interrogatories 
he  was  examined  before  torture,  between  torture,  and 
after  torture."  These  are  the  words  of  Bacon  ;  and  I  re- 
late with  horror  that  he  was  himself  present  at  scenes 
equaling  everything  that  we  have  read  or  can  imagine  of 
the  Inquisition  at  Venice.  The  tone  in  which  he  de- 
scribes some  of  them  to  the  King,  though  he  tries  to  talk 
bravely,  shows  that  he  was  ashamed  of  the  work  in  which 
he  was  engaged,  and  that  he  inwardly  condemned  what 
some  of  his  admirers  now  defend  : 

"  It  may  please  your  excellent  Majesty. 

"  It  grieveth  me  exceedingly  that  your  Majesty  should 
be  so  much  troubled  with  this  matter  of  Peacham,  whose 
raging  devil  seemeth  to  be  turned  into  a  dumb  devil. 
But  although  we  are  driven  to  make  our  way  through 
questions,  which  I  wish  were  otherwise,  yet  I  hope  well 
the  end  will  be  good.  But  then  every  man  must  put  his 
helping  Jiand ?  for  else  I  must  say  to  your  Majesty  in  this 
and  the  like  cases,  as  St.  Paul  said  to  the  centurion,  when 
some-  of  the  mariners  had  an  eye  to  the  cock-boat, 
Except  these  stay  in  the  ship,  ye  can  not  be  safe.  I  find  in 
my  Lords  great  and  worthy  care  of  the  business ;  and 
for  my  part,  I  hold  my  opinion,  and  am  strengthened  in 
it  by  some  records  that  I  have  found.  God  preserve  your 
Majesty!" 

It  is  quite  clear  that  several  present  had  expressed  an 
opinion  against  going  further,  and  that  Bacon  himself  had 
not  much  confidence  in  his  "  Records."  He  still  per- 
sisted, however,  for  the  King  had  become  very  earnest 
about  it, — and  thus  he  writes  to  his  Majesty  (after  de- 
scribing Peacham's  refusal  to  answer  certain  points), — "  I 
hold  it  fit  that  myself  and  my  fellows  go  to  the  Tower, 
and  so  I  purpose  to  examine  him  upon  these  points  and 
some  others.  I  think  also,  it  were  not  amiss  to  make  a 
false  fire,2  as  if  all  things  were  ready  for  his  going  down  to 
his  trial,  and  that  he  were  upon  the  very  point  of  being 
carried  down  to  see  what  will  work  with  him."  *  To  the 
Tower  he  went  accordingly,  but  neither  old  nor  new-in- 
vented torture  could  succeed:  "I  send,"  says  he,  "your 

1  Does  this  mean  to  stretch  the  rack,  like  Lord  Chancellor  Wriothesley  ? 

2  A  new  species  of  torture  not  to  be  found  in  his  "  Records." 

3  Works  v.  354. 


430095 


38  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.          [1615 

Majesty  a  copy  of  our  last  examination  of  Peacham, 
whereby  your  Majesty  may  perceive  that  this  miscreant 
wretch  goeth  back  from  all.  He  never  deceived  me,  for 
when  others  had  hopes  of  discovery,  and  thought  time 
well  spent  that  way,  I  told  your  Majesty  pereuntibus  mille 
figures,  and  that  he  did  but  now  turn  himself  into  divers 
shapes  to  save  or  delay  his  punishment."1 

The  old  man,  with  dislocated  joints  but  unbroken  spirit, 
was  brought  to  trial  at  the  summer  assizes  at  Taunton, 
before  the  Chief  Baron  and  Sir  Henry  Montagu.  Bacon 
showed  some  remnant  of  virtue  by  being  too  much 
ashamed  to  attend  in  person.  He  sent  in  his  stead,  Crew, 
the  King's  Sergeant,  and  Yelverton,  the  Solicitor  General, 
who  conducted  themselves  to  his  entire  satisfaction, — for 
without  law  or  fact  they  obtained  a  conviction.  The 
case,  however,  was  so  infamous,  that  even  the  Judges  who 
presided  at  the  trial  expressed  a  doubt  whether  the  offense 
amounted  to  high  treason,  and  there  was  such  a  feeling 
of  indignation  excited  throughout  the  country,  that  the 
Government  did  not  venture  to  carry  the  sentence  into 
execution.  Peacham  was  allowed  to  languish  in  Taunton 
gaol,  till,  in  the  following  year,  death  relieved  him  from 
his  sufferings. 

An  attempt  to  defend  the  conduct  of  Bacon  in  this 
affair,  or  to  palliate  its  enormity,  is  to  confound  the  sacred 
distinctions  of  right  and  wrong.  He  knew  that  Peacham's 
offense  did  not  amount  to  high  treason.  He  knew  as  well 
as  the  Judges,  who  so  decided  a  few  years  after  on  the 
assassination  of  the  Duke  of  Buckingham  by  Felton,  that 
the  law  of  England  did  not  sanction  torture  to  extort 
confession.  If  the  law  had  been  with  him,  he  would  have 
disgraced  his  character  and  his  profession  by  the  low 
subterfuges  to  which  he  resorted  for  the  purpose  of  tre- 
panning the  Judges,  and  by  directing  himself  the  stretch- 
ing of  the  rack,  and  administering  his  questions  amidst 
the  agonizing  shrieks  of  the  fainting  victim.  But  Lord 

1  The  single  torture  warrant  for  Peacham,  now  extant,  is  one  dated  i8th, 
and  executed  igth  January,  which  only  authorizes  the  "  Manacles,"  called  by 
King  James  the  "  gentler  torture."  Hence  it  has  been  inferred  that  Peacham 
never  was  " racked"  But  it  is  quite  clear  that  he  had  been  tortured  on 
several  other  occasions,  for  which  there  are  no  warrants  forthcoming ;  and 
there  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt  that  he  had  been  made  to  undergo  the 
severest  suffering  which  the  human  frame  can  support. — See  Jardine's  Read 
ing  on  Torture,  a  treatise  full  of  curious  learning. 


1615.]  LORD    BACON.  39 

Chancellor  Ellesmere,  from  age  and  infirmity,  could  not 
much  longer  hold  the  Seals,  and  Bacon  was  resolved  to 
be  his  successor. 

To  strengthen  his  interest  he  now  assiduously  cultivated 
George  Villiers,  the  new  favorite.  Notwithstanding  his 
own  mature  age  and  high  station,  he  received  the  un- 
ideaed  page  into  his  intimacy,  and  condescended  even  to 
manage  his  private  affairs.  There  are  stronger  contrasts 
of  light  and  shade  in  the  character  of  Bacon  than  probably 
of  any  other  man  who  ever  lived.  Though  seeming  de- 
voted exclusively  to  his  own  aggrandizement,  yet,  as  Vil- 
liers was  rising  in  favor, — had  high  honors  and  offices 
conferred  upon  him, — and  was  evidently  advancing  to 
supreme  power  in  the  state  ; — the  selfish  and  sordid  can- 
didate for  his  patronage  took  infinite  pains  in  instructing 
him  how  to  govern  for  the  glory  and  happiness  of  the 
country.  His  "  advice  to  Sir  George  Villiers"  *  is  a  most 
noble  composition,  and  may  now  be  perused  with  great 
advantage  by  every  English  statesman.  It  is  even  written 
with  freedom  and  manliness. — "  You  are  a  new-risen  star, 
and  the  eyes  of  all  men  are  upon  you  ;  let  not  your  own 
negligence  make  you  fall  like  a  meteor."  He  divides  his 
subject  into  eight  heads: — I.  Religion  and  the  Church. 
2.  Justice  and  the  laws.  3.  The  Council  and  the  great 
officers  of  the  kingdom.  4.  Foreign  negotiations  and 
embassies.  5.  War,  the  navy,  and  ports.  6.  Trade  at 
home.  7.  Colonies.  8.  The  King's  court. — I  am  naturally 
most  struck  by  his  observations  respecting  justice  and  the 
laws,  which  show  that  he  himself  sinned  against  knowl- 
edge.— "  Let  no  arbitrary  power  be  intruded  ;  the  people 
of  this  kingdom  love  the  laws  thereof,  and  nothing  will 
oblige  them  more  than  a  confidence  of  the  free  enjoying 
of  them.  What  the  nobles  on  an  occasion  once  said  in 
parliament,  Nolumus  leges  Anglice  mutare,  is  imprinted 
in  the  hearts  of  all  the  people.  But  because  the  life  of 
laws  lies  in  the  due  execution  and  administration  of  them, 
let  your  eye  be  in  the  first  place  upon  the  choice  of  good 
Judges.  These  properties  had  they  need  to  be  furnished 
with, — to  be  learned  in  their  profession,  patient  in  hear- 
ing, prudent  in  governing,  powerful  in  their  elocution  to 
persuade  and  satisfy  both  the  parties  and  hearers,  just 
in  their  judgment, — and,  to  sum  up  all,  they  must  have 

1  Works,  vol.  iii.  429. 


40  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    7.          [1616. 

these  three  attributes, — they  must  be  men  of  courage, 
fearing  God  and  hating  covetousness; — an  ignorant  man 
can  not,  a  coward  dares  not,  be  a  good  Judge."  "  By  no 
means  be  you  persuaded  to  interpose  yourself  either  by 
word  or  letter,  in  any  cause  depending  in  any  court  of 
justice.  If  any  sue  to  be  made  a  Judge,  for  my  own  part 
I  should  suspect  him ;  but  if  either  directly  or  indirectly 
he  should  bargain  for  a  place  of  judicature,  let  him  be 
rejected  with  shame: — Vender e  jure  potest,  emerat  ille 
prius." — We  shall  ere  long  see  how  these  maxims  were 
observed  between  the  preceptor  and  pupil. 

Lord  Ellesmere  about  this  time  had  a  severe  illness, 
from  which  he  was  not  expected  to  recover,  and  Bacon 
thrown  into  a  state  of  deep  anxiety,  visited  him  almost 
daily,  and  sent  bulletins  of  his  condition  to  the  King.1 
The  old  man  lingering  longer  than  was  expected,  Bacon 
pretty  plainly  intimates  to  the  King  that  he  ought  to  be 
superseded  : — 

"  My  Lord  Chancellor's  sickness  falleth  out  duro  tem- 
pore.  I  have  always  known  him  a  wise  man  and  of  just 
elevation  for  monarchy,  but  your  Majesty's  service  must 
not  be  mortal.  And  if  you  love  him,  as  your  Majesty 
hath  now  of  late  purchased  many  hearts  by  depressing 
the  wicked,  so  God  doth  minister  unto  you  a  counterpart 
to  do  the  like  by  raising  the  honest." a 

A  few  days  after,  in  another  letter  to  James,  he  speaks 
out  more  distinctly: — 

"Your  worthy  Chancellor  I  fear  goeth  his  last  day. 
God  hath  hitherto  used  to  weed  out  such  servants  as 
grew  not  fit  for  your  Majesty ;  but  now  he  hath  gathered 
to  himself  one  of  the  choicer  plants,  a  true  sage  or  salvia 
out  of  your  garden ;  but  your  Majesty's  service  must 
not  be  mortal. 

"  Upon  this  heavy  accident,  I  pray  your  Majesty  in  all 
humbleness  and  sincerity  to  give  me  leave  to  use  a  few 

1  Specimens  :— "  Because  I  knew  your  Majesty  would  be  glad  to  hear  how  it 
is  with  my  Lord  Chancellor,  and  that  it  pleased  him,  out  of  his  ancient  and 
great  love  for  me,  which  many  times  in  sickness  appeareth  most,  to  admit  me 
to  a  great  deal  of  speech  with  him  this  afternoon,  which  during  these  three 
days  he  hath  scarcely  done  to  any,  I  thcught  it  would  be  pleasing  to  your 
Majesty  to  be  certified  how  I  found  him."  Jan.  29,  1616.  "  I  spoke  to  him 
on  Sunday,  at  what  time  I  found  him  in  bed,  but  his  spirits  strong  "  Jan  31 
1616.  "  My  Lord  Chancellor  sent  for  me  to  speak  with  me  this  morning.  I 
perceive  he  hath  now  that  rignum  sanitatis  as  to  feel  better  his  former  weak- 
ness. Feb.  7,  1616.  it  Feb.  9,  1616. 


1616.]  LORD    BACON.  41 

words.  I  must  never  forget,  when  I  moved  your  Majesty 
for  the  Attorney's  place,  that  it  was  your  own  sole  act, 
and  not  my  Lord  of  Somerset's,  who,  when  he  knew  your 
Majesty  had  resolved  it,  thrust  himself  into  the  business 
to  gain  thanks  ;  and  therefore  I  have  no  reason  to  pray 
to  saints. 

"  I  shall  now  again  make  oblation  to  your  Majesty, — 
first  of  my  heart, — then  of  my  service, — thirdly,  of  my 
place  of  Attorney,  which  I  think  is  honestly  worth  ^6,000 
per  annum/ — and,  fourthly,  of  my  place  in  the  Star  Cham- 

1  Almost  the  whole  of  this  income  must  have  arisen  from  fees.  The  follow- 
ing were  the  salaries  of  the  law  officers  of  the  Crown  at  this  time : — 

£    s.    d. 

Attorney-General 8168 

Solicitor-General      .......  70    o     o 

King's  Sergeant        .         .         .         .         .         .         .  41     9  IO 

King's  Advocate      .......  20     o    o 

The  salaries  of  the  Judges  show  that  they  must  have  depended  a  good  deal 
on  fees : — 

£     *•    d. 

j  Sir  E.  Coke,  Ld.  C.  J.  of  England      .        .        .        224  19    9 
(Circuits 33     6     8 


258     6     5 

j  Puisne  Judges  of  K.  B.  and  C.  P.        .        .        .        188     6     8 
\  Besides  circuits    .......  33     6     8 


221   13     4 

C.  J.  of  C.  P.   . 194  19     9 

Chief  Baron     ........         188     6     o 

Puisne'Barons ........         133     6     8 

Judge  on  Norfolk  Circuit 12     6     8* 

The  usual  amount  of  honoraries  to  counsel  in  this  reign,  I  have  not  been 
able  to  ascertain.  From  an  entry  in  the  parish  books  of  St.  Margaret's, 
Westminster,  it  appears  that  in  the  reign  of  Edward  IV.  they  paid  "  Roger 
Fylpott,  learned  in  the  law,  for  his  counsel,  3-r.  8</.,  with  4^.  for  his  dinner." 

In  the  reign  of  Henry  VII.  Sergeant  Yaxley  was  at  the  head  of  the  bar, 
and  used  to  go  special  on  different  circuits.  From  the  following  very  curious 
retainer  it  appears  that  he  was  to  attend  the  assizes  at  York,  Nottingham,  and 
Derby,  and  plead  as  many  causes  as  he  should  be  required  by  his  client  Sir 
Robert  Plompton  at  each  place,  for  all  which  he  was  to  receive  only  40  marks, 
besides  his  charges  in  the  assize  towns. 

"  This  bill  indented  at  London  the  i8th  day  of  July,  the  i6th  yeare  of  the 
reigne  of  King  Henry  the  7th,  witnesseth  that  John  Yaxley,  Sergent  at  the 
Law,  shall  be  at  the  next  Assizes  to  be  holden  at  York,  Nottin.  and  Derb.  if 
they  be  holden  and  kept,  and  their  to  be  of  council  with  Sir  Robert  Plomp- 
ton, knight,  such  assises  and  actions  as  the  said  Sir  Robert  shall  require  the 
said  John  Yaxley,  for  the  which  premisses  as,  well  for  his  costs  and  his  labour, 


_  *  From  Abstract  of  Revenue,  Temp.  Jac.  I. 


42  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.  [1616. 

ber,  which  is  worth  £1, 600  per  annum,  and,  with  the  favor 
and  countenance  of  a  Chancellor,  much  more" 

He  then  urges  his  father's  merits,  and  reminds  the  King 
that  the  Chancellor's  place  was  ever  conferred  on  some 
law  officer,  and  never  on  a  Judge, — instancing  Audley, 
from  King's  Sergeant ;  his  own  father,  from  Attorney  of 
the  Wards ;  Bromley,  from  Solicitor  General ;  Puckering, 
from  Queen's  Sergeant ;  Egerton,  from  Master  of  the  Rolls, 
having  lately  been  Attorney  General.  Now  he  comes  to 
disparage  his  rivals  : — 

"  If  you  like  my  Lord  Coke,  this  will  follow, — first,  your 
Majesty  shall  put  an  overruling  nature  into  an  overruling 
place,  which  may  breed  an  extreme; — next,  you  shall 
blunt  his  industries  in  matter  of  your  finances,  which 
seemeth  to  aim  at  another  place ; — and,  lastly,  popular 
men  are  no  sure  mounters  for  your  Majesty's  saddle.  If 
you  take  my  Lord  Hobart,  you  shall  have  a  Judge  at  the 
upper  end  of  your  Council  Board  and  another  at  the 
lower  end,  whereby  your  Majesty  will  find  your  preroga- 
tive pent ;  for  though  there  should  be  emulation  between 
them,  yet,  as  legists,  they  will  agree  in  magnifying  that 
wherein  they  are  best :  he  is  no  statesman,  but  an  econ- 
omist wholly  for  himself,  so  as  your  Majesty,  more  than 
an  outward  form,  will  find  little  help  in  him  for  the  busi- 
ness. If  you  will  take  my  Lord  of  Canterbury,  I  will  say 
no  more  but  the  Chancellor's  place  requires  a  whole  man  ; 

John  Pulan,  Gentlman,  bindeth  him  by  thease  presents  to  content  and  pay  to 
the  said  John  Yaxley  40  marksf  sterling  at  the  feast  of  the  Nativetie  of  our 
Lady  next  coming,  or  within  eight  days  next  following,  with  5U  paid  afore- 
hand,  parcell  of  paiment  of  the  said  40  marcks.  Provided  alway  that  if  the 
said  John  Yaxley  have  knowledg  and  warning  only  to  cum  to  Nott.  and 
Derby,  then  the  said  John  Yaxley  is  agread  by  these  presents  to  take  onely 
xvu  besides  the  said  5"  aforesaid.  Provided  alwaies  that  if  the  said  John 
Yaxley  have  knowledg  and  warning  to  take  no  labor  in  this  matter,  then  he 
to  reteine  and  hold  the  said  5"  resaived  for  his  good  will  and  labor.  In  wit- 
nesse  herof  the  said  John  Yaxley,  seriant,  to  the  part  of  this  indenture  re- 
maining with  the  said  John  Pulan  have  put  his  scale  the  day  and  yeare  above- 
written.  Provided  also  that  the  said  Sir  Robert  Plumpton  shall  beare  the 
charges  of  the  said  John  Yaxley,  as  well  at  York  as  Nottingham  and  Derby, 
and  also  to  content  and  pay  the  said  money  to  the  sayd  John  Yaxley  corned 
to  the  said  Assizes  att  Nott.  Derb.  and  York. 

"  JOHN  YAXLEY." 

— Plumpton  Correspondence,  by  Camden  Society,  152.  See  also  pp.  53,  93,  150. 
Formerly    the  usual  fee  for  a  barrister  in  Westminster  Hall  was  an  angel. 
Whence  the  saying,  "  a  barrister  is  like  Balaam's  ass — only  speaking  when  he 
sees  the  angel." 

f  26#.  I3.r.  4</. 


1616.]  LORD    BACON.  43 

and  to  have  both  jurisdictions,  spiritual  and  temporal,  in 
that  height  is  fit  but  for  a  King. — For  myself,  I  can  only 
present  your  Majesty  with  gloria  in  obsequio.  Yet  I  dare 
promise,  that  if  I  sit  in  that  place,  your  business  shall  not 
make  such  short  turns  upon  you  as  it  doth ;  but  when  a 
direction  is  once  given,  it  shall  be  pursued  and  performed, 
and  your  Majesty  shall  only  be  troubled  with  the  true 
care  of  a  King,  which  is  to  think  what  you  would  have 
done  in  chief,  and  not  how,  for  the  passages. — I  do  pre- 
sume also,  in  respect  of  my  father's  memory,  and  that  I 
have  been  always  gracious  in  the  Lower  House,  I  have 
some  interest  in  the  gentlemen  of  England,  and  shall  be 
able  to  do  some  effect  in  rectifying  that  body  of  parlia- 
ment men,  which  is  cardo  rerum.  For  let  me  tell  your 
Majesty,  that  that  part  of  the  Chancellor's  place  which  is 
to  judge  in  Equity  between  party  and  party,  that  same 
rcgnum  judiciale,  which  since  my  father's  time  is  but  too 
much  enlarged,  concerneth  your  Majesty  least,  more  than 
the  acquitting  of  your  conscience  for  justice  ;  but  it  is  the 
other  parts  of  a  moderator  amongst  your  Council,  of  an 
overseer  of  your  Judges,  of  a  planter  of  fit  justices  and 
governors  in  the  country,  that  importeth  your  affairs  and 
these  times  most. — To  conclude,  if  I  were  the  man  I 
would  be,  I  should  hope  that,  as  your  Majesty  hath  of 
late  won  hearts  by  depressing,  you  should  in  this  lose  no 
hearts  by  advancing  ;  for  I  see  your  people  can  better  skill 
of  concretum  than  abstraction^  and  that  the  waves  of  their 
affections  flow  rather  after  persons  than  things ;  so  that  acts 
of  this  nature,  if  this  were  one,  do  more  good  than  twenty 
bills  of  grace.  If  God  call  my  Lord,  the  warrants  and 
commissions  which  are  requisite  for  the  taking  of  the 
Seal,  and  for  the  working  with  it,  and  for  the  reviving  of 
warrants  under  his  hand  which  die  with  him,  and  the  like, 
shall  be  in  readiness.  And  in  this,  time  presseth  more 
because  it  is  the  end  of  a  term,  and  almost  the  beginning 
of  the  circuits;  so  that  the  Seal  can  not  stand  still;  but 
this  may  be  done  as  heretofore  by  commission,  till  your 
Majesty  hath  resolved  of  an  officer.  God  ever  preserve 
your  Majesty."  l 

Is  not  this  something  very  much  like  "  suing  to  be  made 
a  Judge,  and  bargaining  for  a  place  of  judicature?" 
MEANEST  OF  MANKIND!!!  A  touch  of  vanity  even  is  to 

1  Feb.  12,  1616.     Works,  v.  371. 


44  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.          [1616. 

be  found  in  this  composition, — a  quality  he  hardly  ever 
betrays  elsewhere,  although  he  had  an  inward  conscious- 
ness of  his  extraordinary  powers.  Boasting  ot  his  great 
influence  in  the  Lower  House,  little  did  he  think  that, 
when  parliament  should  next  meet,  both  Houses  would 
unanimously  agree  in  prosecuting  and  punishing  him. 

But,  alas !  Ellesmere  rallied,  and  in  three  days  Bacon 
was  obliged  hypocritically  to  write, — 

"I  do  find,  God  be  thanked,  a  sensible  amendment  in  my 
Lord  Chancellor.  I  was  with  him  yesterday  in  private 
conference  about  half  an  hour,  and  this  day  again  at  such 
time  as  he  did  seal,  which  he  endured  well  almost  the 
space  of  an  hour,  though  the  vapor  of  wax  be  offensive  to 
him.  But  whoever  thinketh  his  disease  is  but  melan- 
choly, he  maketh  no  true  judgment  of  it ;  for  it  is  plainly 
a  formed  and  deep  cough,  with  a  pectoral  surcharge  ;  so 
that  at  times  he  doth  almost  animam  agere.  I  forbear  to 
advertise  your  Majesty  of  the  care  I  took  to  have  com- 
missions in  readiness,  because  Mr.  Secretary  Luke  hath 
let  me  understand  he  signified  as  much  to  your  Majesty  ; 
but  I  hope  there  shall  be  no  use  for  them  at  this  time" l 

He  next  seems  to  have  tried  to  prevail  upon  the  old 
Chancellor  to  resign  in  his  favor.  But  James  would  put 
no  constraint  on  the  inclinations  of  Ellesmere  ;  and  Bacon, 
to  secure  his  succession  when  a  vacancy  should  happen, 
now  resorted  to  the  expedient  of  being  made  a  Privy 
Councillor, — which  was  pretty  much  the  same  as,  in 
modern  speech,  being  admitted  to  a  seat  in  the. Cabinet. 
He  writes  to  Villiers, — 

"  My  Lord  Chancellor's  health  growing  with  the  days, 
and  his  resignation  being  an  uncertainty,  I  would  be  glad 
you  went  on  with  my  first  motion,  my  swearing  Privy 
Councillor.  Tho'  I  desire  not  so  much  to  make  myself 
more  sure  of  the  other,  and  to  put  it  past  competition, 
for  herein  I  rest  wholly  upon  the  King  and  your  excellent 
self,  but  because  I  find  hourly  that  I  need  this  strength 
in  his  Majesty's  service,  both  for  my  better  warrant  and 
satisfaction  of  my  conscience  that  I  deal  not  in  things 
above  my  vocation,  and  for  my  better  countenance  and 
prevailing  where  his  Majesty's  service  is  under  any  pre- 
text opposed,  I  would  it  were  dispatched I  sent 

a  pretty  while  since  a  paper  to  Mr.  John  Murray,  which 

1  Feb.  15,  1616.     Works,  v.  374. 


1616.]  LORD    BACON.  45 

was  indeed  a  little  remembrance  of  some  things  past  con- 
cerning my  honest  and  faithful  services  to  his  Majesty; 
not  by  way  of  boasting, — from  which  I  am  far, — but  as 
tokens  of  my  studying  his  service  uprightly  and  carefully. 
If  you  be  pleased  to  call  for  the  paper  which  is  with  Mr. 
John  Murray,  and  to  find  a  fit  time  that  his  Majesty  may 
cast  an  eye  upon  it,  I  think  it  will  do  no  hurt  ;  and  I 
have  written  to  Mr.  Murray  to  deliver  the  paper  if  you 
call  for  it." ' 

To  such  minute  artifices  did  he  descend  for  effecting  his 
object. — After  some  interval,  and  renewed  solicitations, 
the  King  gave  him  his  choice,  either  that  he  should  have 
an  express  promise  to  succeed  to  the  Great  Seal,  or  that 
he  should  forthwith  be  sworn  of  the  Privy  Council.  The 
bare  promise,  he  thought,  would  not  much  improve  his 
chance,  while  a  seat  at  the  council-table  could  not  fail  to 
place  him  above  competition.  More  sue,  he  makes  his 
election  in  a  letter  to  Villiers  to  be  shown  to  James : — 

"  The  King  giveth  me  a  noble  choice,  and  you  are  the 
man  my  heart  ever  told  me  you  were.  Ambition  would 
draw  me  to  the  latter  part  of  the  choice;  but  in  respect 
my  hearty  wishes  that  my  Lord  Chancellor  may  live  long, 
and  the  small  hopes  I  have  that  I  shall  live  long  myself, 
and,  above  all,  because  I  see  his  Majesty's  service  daily 
and  instantly  bleedeth  ;  towards  which  I  persuade  myself 
(vainly,  perhaps,  but  yet  in  mine  own  thoughts  firmly  and 
constantly)  that  I  shall  give,  when  I  am  of  the  table,  some 
effectual  furtherance, — I  do  accept  of  the  former,  to  be 
Councillor  for  the  present,  and  to  give  over  pleading 
at  the  bar ;  let  other  matter  rest  upon  my  proof  and  his 
Majesty's  pleasure,  and  the  accidents  of  time."' 

In  consequence  of  Villiers's  representation  the  King 
consented  ;  and  on  the  Qth  of  June,  Bacon  was  sworn  of 
the  Privy  Council,  and  took  his  place  at  the  table, — it 
having  been,  at  his  own  request,  previously  arranged  that 
with  permission  to  give  advice  at  chambers  to  those  who 
might  consult  him,  he  should  cease  to  plead  as  an  advocate 
at  the  bar  in  private  causes, — unless  some  weighty  matter 
might  arise  in  which  he  was  to  be  allowed  to  be  engaged 
under  the  King's  express  license. 

Having  thus  got  rid  of  his  private  practice,  he  applied 
his  leisure  to  a  most  noble  account,  dedicating  himself  by 

1  Feb.  21,  1616.     Works,  v.  377.         2  June  3,  1616.     Works,  v.  420. 


46  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.          [1616. 

turns  to  the  prosecution  of  his  philosphical  pursuits,  and 
to  the  improvement  of  the  institutions  of  his  country. 
The  NOVUM  ORGANUM  made  great  progress,  though  it 
was  not  ready  to  see  the  light  for  some  years;  and  he  ac- 
tually published  "  A  Proposition  to  his  Majesty  touching 
the  Compiling  and  Amendment  of  the  Laws  of  England."  J 
He  commences  this  treatise  with  the  following  dignified 
address : — 

"  Your  Majesty,  of  your  favor,  having  made  me  Privy 
Councillor,  and  continuing  me  in  the  place  of  your  At- 
torney General,  which  is  more  than  was  three  hundred 
years  before,  I  do  not  understand  it  to  be  that,  by  put- 
ting off  the  dealing  in  causes  between  party  and  party, 
I  should  keep  holiday  the  more,  but  that  I  should  dedi- 
cate my  time  to  your  service  with  less  distraction. 
Wherefore,  in  this  plentiful  accession  of  time  which  I  have 
now  gained,  I  take  it  to  be  my  duty,  not  only  to  speed 
your  commandments  and  the  business  of  my  place,  but  to 
meditate  and  excogitate  of  myself  wherein  I  may  best  by 
my  travels  derive  your  virtues  to  the  good  of  your  people, 
and  return  their  thanks  and  increase  of  love  to  you  again. 
And  after  I  had  thought  of  many  things,  I  could  find  in 
my  judgment  none  more  proper  for  your  Majesty  as  a 
master,  nor  for  me  as  a  workman,  than  the  reducing  and 
recompiling  of  the  laws  of  England." 

In  this  scheme  he  displays  great  caution  and  wisdom  ; 
not  venturing  to  codify  the  common  law,  but  contenting 
himself  with  reforming  the  statute-book,  and  extracting 
from  the  jumble  of  Reports  a  series  of  sound  and  con- 
sistent decisions.2  It  is  curious  to  reflect  that  his  exhor- 
tations in  favor  of  law  reform  produced  no  fruit  till  the 
Republic  was  established  under  Cromwell,  and  that  the 
subject  was  entirely  neglected  from  the  Restoration  to  our 
own  times.  Much  has  been  done  in  the  spirit  which  he 
recommends;  and  in  what  remains  to  be  done  he  will  be 
found  our  safest  guide. 

Bacon  was  called  away  from  all  such  speculations  to 
conduct  the  prosecutions  which  arose  out  of  the  murder 

1  Works,  iv.  366. 

2  In  this  address  Bacon  displays  his  great  anxiety  about  his  reputation  as  a 
lawyer.     "  And  I  do  assure  your  Majesty  I  am  in  good  hope  that  when  Sir 
Edward  Coke's  '  Reports  '  and  my  '  Rules  and  Decisions '  shall  come  to  pos- 
terity,  there  will  be,  whatsoever  is  now  thought,  question  who  was  the  greater 
lawyer." 


i6i6.]  LORD    BACON.  47 

of  Sir  Thomas  Overbury.  An  attempt  was  made  to  satisfy 
the  public  by  the  punishment  of  the  inferior  agents  in  this 
black  transaction  ;  but  the  guilt  of  the  Somersets  became 
so  notorious,  and  the  cry  for  justice  was  so  loud  against 
them,  that  the  King  found  it  necessary  to  have  these 
noble  culprits  arrested,  and  brought  to  trial  before  the 
Court  of  the  Lord  High  Steward. 

I  am  sorry  to  say  that  Bacon  shared  in  the  disgrace  in- 
curred by  James  and  all  his  ministers  in  that  mysterious 
affair.  He  prepared  the  questions  to  be  put  to  the  Judges 
prior  to  the  trial,  and  arranged  the  course  to  be  adopted  "  If 
Somerset  should  break  forth  in  any  speech  taxing  the 
King ;"  and  it  is  quite  clear  that,  though  the  inferior 
agents  employed  in  the  murder  were  to  be  sacrificed,  he 
was  in  collusion  with  the  King  to  spare  the  two  great 
offenders  who  had  planned  it,  notwithstanding  James's 
celebrated  imprecation  on  himself  and  his  posterity  if  he 
should  impede  the  course  of  justice.  Bacon  has  been 
praised  for  the  mild  manner  in  which  he  stated  the  case 
against  Somerset ;  but  this  was  in  performance  of  his 
^promise  :  "  It  shall  be  my  care  so  to  moderate  the  man- 
ner of  charging  him  as  it  might  make  him  not  odious  be- 
yond the  extent  of  mercy." '  The  disgraceful  pardon 
Bacon  himself,  as  Attorney  General,  prepared. 

Coke,  the  Chief  Justice,  had  now  rendered  himself  very 
obnoxious  to  the  Court  by  his  activity  in  detecting  and 
prosecuting  the  murderers  of  Overbury,  and  by  the  part 
he  had -taken  in  the  dispute  about  Injunctions  and  the 
affair  of  Commendams,  or  staying  suits  Rege  inconsulto, 
which  will  be  found  circumstantially  detailed  in  the  Life 
of  Lord  Ellesmere.2  Bacon,  having  at  last  gained  an  as- 

1  April  28,  1616.    Works,  v.  395. 

s  How  zealously  Bacon  labored  in  the  affair,  and  how  he  did  his  best  per- 
manently to  pervert  the  due  administration  of  justice  in  this  country,  by 
establishing  the  power  of  the  Sovereign  to  interfere  in  private  causes,  strikingly 
appears  from  his  letter  to  James,  giving  an  account  of  the  manner  in  which 
he  had  tried  to  mislead  the  Judges  by  his  argument  before  them  in  support  of 
this  pretended  prerogative.  "  I  do  perceive  that  I  have  not  only  stopped,  but 
almost  turned  the  stream,  and  I  see  how  things  cool  by  this,  that  the  Judges, 
who  were  wont  to  call  so  hotly  upon  the  business,  when  they  had  heard,  of 
themselves  took  a  fortnight  to  advise  what  they  will  do.  Yet  because  the 
times  are  as  they  are,  I  could  wish  in  all  humbleness  that  your  Majesty 
would  remembei*and  renew  your  former  commandment,  which  you  gave  my 
Lord  Chief  Justice  in  Michaelmas  Term,  which  was,  that  after  he  had  heard 
your  Attorney,  he  should  forbear  further  proceeding  till  he  had  spoke  with 
your  Majesty.  This  writ  (viz.  a  letter  from  the  King  forbidding  the  Court  to 


48  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.          [1616. 

cendency  over  him,  was  determined  to  show  him  no  quar- 
ter. Little  was  to  be  apprehended  from  his  rivalry  in  the 
competition  for  the  Great  Seal,  but  there  still  rested  in 
Bacon's  mind  a  rankling  recollection  of  unavenged  insults. 
After  the  conviction  of  Somerset,  all  manner  of  titles  and 
offices  were  conferred  on  the  new  favorite,  who  was  osten- 
sibly the  King's  servant,  but  really  ruled  the  King  and 
the  kingdom.  Bacon  was  on  the  best  possible  footing 
with  him,  and  they  cordially  entered  into  the  schemes  of 
each  other.1 

About  this  time  Villiers  had  a  personal  quarrel  with 
Coke  about  the  appointment  to  a  lucrative  office  in  the 
Court  of  King's  Bench,  which  he  wished  to  obtain  for  a 
dependent.  Bacon,  of  course,  did  all  he  could  to  assist 
in  this  job."  Coke,  after  some  hesitation,  at  last  peremp- 
torily resisted  the  encroachment  on  his  patronage, — and 
his  dismissal  was  resolved  upon.  The  difficulty  was  to 
find  a  pretext  for  removing  him.  Although  the  judges  all 
held  during  pleasure,  the  power  of  cashiering  them 
had  hitherto  been  very  sparingly  exercised,  and  never  ex- 
cept upon  some  charge  of  misconduct.  Coke  was  the 
greatest  master  of  the  Common  Law  that  ever  had  ap- 

proceed  Rege  inconsulto)  is  a  mean  provided  by  the  ancient  law  of  England 
to  bring  any  cause  that  may  concern  your  Majesty  in  profit  or  power  from  the 
ordinary  benches,  to  be  tried  and  judged  before  your  Chancellor  of  England 
by  the  ordinary  and  legal  part  of  his  power ;  and  your  Majesty  knoweth 
your  Chancellor  is  ever  a  principal  councillor  and  instrument  of  monarchy,  of 
immediate  dependence  upon  the  King,  and  therefore  like  to  be  a  safe  and 
tender  guardian  of  the  royal  rights." — Jan.  27,  1616.  Works,  v.  366.  Bacon 
knew  that  he  was  misstating  the  law — to  please  the  King — and  to  show  that, 
by  appointing  himself  Chancellor,  prerogative  might  be  exercised  without 
control. 

1  "  Your  Majesty  certainly  hath  found  out  and  chosen  a  safe  nature,  a  ca- 
pable man,  an  honest  will,  generous  and  noble  affections,  and  a  courage  well 
lodged,  and  one  that  I  know  loveth  your  Majesty  unfeignedly,  and  admireth 
you  as  much  as  is  in  a  man  to  admire  his  Sovereign  upon  earth." — Bacon  to 
James.  Yet  no  human  being  ever  more  thoroughly  despised  another  than 
Buckingham  his  "  Dad." 

9  Bacon  gives  Villiers  an  amusing  account  of  a  conversation  on  this  sub- 
ject with  Coke.  "  As  I  was  sitting  by  my  Lord  Chief  Justice,  one  of  the 
judges  asked  him,  '  Whether  Roper*  were  dead?'  He  said,  '  He  for  his  part 
knew  not'  Another  of  the  Judges  answered,  '  It  should  concern  you,  my  Lord, 
to  know  it.'  Whereupon  he  turned  his  speech  to  me,  and  said,  '  No,  Mr. 
Attorney,  I  will  not  wrestle  now  in  my  latter  times'  '  My  Lord,'  said  I,  'you 
speak  like  a  wise  man.'  '  Well'  saith  he,  '  they  have  had  no  luck  with  it  that 
have  had  it.'  I  said  again, '  Those  days  are  past'  Here  youjhave  the  dialogue 
to  make  you  merry." — Jan.  22,  1616. 

*  The  person  who  then  held  the  office. 


1616.]  LORD      BACON.  49 

peared  in  England.  Notwithstanding  the  arrogance  with 
which  he  was  chargeable  when  at  the  bar  he  had  given 
the  highest  satisfaction  to  the  profession  and  the  public 
since  his  elevation  to  the  Bench.  His  opposition  to  the 
equitable  jurisdiction  of  the  Lord  Chancellor,  though  un- 
justifiable, was  generally  popular,  and  all  mankind  (with 
the  exception  of  the  King  and  the  most  slavish  of  the 
ministers)  approved  of  the  noble  stand  he  had  made  for 
judicial  independence  in  Peacham's  case  and  the  affair  of 
the  "  Commendams,"  and  he  had  been  rapturously  ap- 
plauded for  his  energy,  on  the  discovery  of  the  murder  of 
Sir  Thomas  Overbury,  in  posting  off  to  Theobald's  to 
arrest  Somerset  with  his  own  hands.  The  expedient  to 
which  Bacon  resorted  shows  that  it  is  no  more  possible  "  to 
hate" — than  "to  love, — and  be  wise."  The  frivolous,  un- 
founded, preposterous,  ludicrous  charge  brought  against 
Coke  was,  that  in  his  Reports  of  decided  cases  he  had  in- 
troduced several  things  in  derogation  of  the  royal  prerog- 
ative.1 On  no  better  ground,  in  the  month  of  June, 
1616,  though  not  formally  superseded,  and  still  allowed 
to  do  duty  at  chambers,  he  was  suspended  from  the  public 
execution  of  his  office  and  from  the  council-table,  and, 
instead  of  appearing  in  Court  at  Westminster,  or  going 
his  circuit,  it  was  most  insultingly  ordered  that,  during 
the  long  vacation,  "  he  should  enter  into  a  view  and  re- 
tractation of  such  novelties  and  errors  and  offensive  conceits 
as  were  dispersed  in  his  Reports." 

Bacon  having  laid  his  enemy  prostrate  on  the  ground, 
trampled' on  his  body.  He  now  addressed  an  "  Expostu- 
lation to  the  Lord  Chief  Justice  Coke,"  in  which,  after 
some  profane  applications  of  Scripture,  and  pointing  out 
how  in  his  fallen  state  he  ought  to  rejoice  in  the  humilia- 
tion which  God  had  inflicted  upon  him,  he  thus  pithily 
proceeds : — 

"  Not  only  knowledge,  but  also  every  other  gift  which 
we  call  the  gifts  of  fortune,  have  power  to  puff  up  earth; 
afflictions  only  level  these  mole-hills  of  pride,  plough  the 
heart,  and  make  it  fit  for  wisdom  to  sow  her  seed,  and  for 

1  Of  these  very  Reports  Bacon  himself  had  deliberately  written,  "  To  give 
every  man  his  due — had  it  not  been  for  Sir  Edward  Coke's  Reports,  which, 
though  they  may  have  errors,  and  some  peremptory  and  extra  judicial  resolu- 
tions more  than  are  warranted,  yet  they  contain  infinite  good  decisions  and 
rulings  over  cases — the  law  by  this  time  had  been  almost  like  a  ship  without 
ballast." 

III.— 4 


50  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.  [1616. 

grace  to  bring  forth  her  increase.  Happy  is  that  man, 
therefore,  both  in  regard  of  heavenly  and  earthly  wisdom, 
that  is  thus  wounded  to  be  cured,  thus  broken  to  be  made 
straight,  thus  made  acquainted  with  his  own  imperfections 
that  he  may  be  perfected. 

"  Supposing  this  to  be  the  time  of  your  affliction,  that 
which  I  have  propounded  to  myself  is  by  taking  this 
seasonable  advantage,  like  a  true  friend,  though  far  un- 
worthy to  be  counted  so,  to  show  you  your  true  shape  in 
a  glass,  and  that  not  in  a  false  one  to  flatter  you,  nor  yet 
in  one  that  should  make  you  seem  worse  than  you  are, 
and  so  offend  you,  but  in  one  made  by  the  reflection  of 
your  own  words  and  actions,  from  whose  light  proceeds 
the  voice  of  the  people,  which  is  often,  not  unfitly,  called 
the  voice  of  God.  It  proceedeth  from  love,  and  a  true 
desire  to  do  you  good.  All  men  can  see  their  own  profit; 
that  part  of  the  wallet  hangs  before.  A  true  friend 
(whose  worthy  office  I  would  perform,  since  I  fear  both 
yourself  and  all  great  men  want  such)  is  to  show  the  other, 
and  which  is  from  your  eyes. 

"  First,  therefore,  behold  your  errors.  In  discourse  you 
delight  to  speak  too  much,  not  to  hear  other  men  ;  this 
some  say  becomes  a  pleader,  not  a  judge.  While  you 
speak  in  your  own  element,  the  law,  no  man  ordinarily 
equals  you  ;  but  when  you  wander,  as  you  often  delight 
to  do,  you  wander  indeed,  and  give  never  such  satisfaction 
as  the  curious  time  requires. 

"  Secondly,  you  clog  your  auditory  when  you  would  be 
observed  ;  speech  must  be  either  sweet  or  short. 

"  Thirdly,  you  converse  with  books,  not  men,  and  books 
especially  human;  and  have  no  excellent  choice  with  men, 
who  are  the  best  books ;  for  a  man  of  action  and  employ- 
ment you  seldom  converse  with,  and  then  but  with  your 
underlings;  not  freely,  but  as  a  schoolmaster  with  his 
scholars,  ever  to  teach,  never  to  learn.  But  if  sometimes 
you  would  in  your  familiar  discourse  hear  others  and 
make  election  of  such  as  know  what  they  speak,  you 
should  know  many  of  these  tales  you  tell  to  be  but  ordi- 
nary, and  many  other  things  which  you  delight  to  repeat 
and  serve  out  for  novelties  to  be  but  stale.  As  in  your 
pleadings  you  were  wont  to  insult  over  misery,  and  to  in- 
veigh bitterly  at  the  persons,  which  bred  you  many 
enemies,  whose  poison  yet  smelleth,  so  are  you  still  wont 


1616.]  LORD    BACON.  51 

to  be  a  little  careless  in  this  point,  to  praise  and  disgrace 
upon  slight  grounds,  and  that  sometimes  untruly;  so  that 
your  reproofs  and  commendations  are  for  the  most  part 
neglected  and  condemned  ;  where  the  censure  of  a  Judge 
coming  slow  but  sure,  should  be  a  brand  to  the  guilty,  and 
a  crown  to  the  virtuous.  You  will  jest  at  any  man  in 
public,  without  respect  to  the  person's  dignity  or  your 
own ;  this  disgraceth  your  gravity  more  than  it  can  ad- 
vance the  opinion  of  your  wit ;  and  so  do  all  actions 
which  we  see  you  do  directly  with  a  touch  of  vain-glory, 
having  no  respect  to  the  true  end.  You  make  the  law  to 
lean  too  much  to  your  opinion,  whereby  you  show  your- 
self to  be  a  legal  tyrant,  striking  with  that  weapon  where 
you  please,  since  you  are  able  to  turn  the  edge  any  way. 
Your  too  much  love  of  the  world  is  too  much  seen,  where 
having  the  living  of  a  thousand  you  relieve  few  or  none. 
The  hand  that  hath  taken  so  much,  can  it  give  so  little  ? 
Herein  you  show  no  bowels  of  compassion,  as  if  you 
thought  all  too  little  for  yourself.  We  desire  you  to 
amend  this,  and  let  your  poor  tenants  in  Norfolk  find 
some  comfort ;  where  nothing  of  your  estate  is  spent  to- 
wards their  relief,  but  all  brought  up  hither  to  the  im- 
poverishing of  your  country. 

"  But  now,  since  the  case  so  standeth,  we  desire  you  to 
give  way  to  power,  and  so  to  fight  that  you  be  not  utterly 
broken,  but  reserved  entirely  to  serve  the  commonwealth 
again,  and  to  do  what  good  you  can,  since  you  can  not  do 
all  the  good  you  would  ;  and  since  you  are  fallen  upon 
this  rock,  cast  out  the  goods  to  save  the  bottom  ;  stop 
the  leaks,  and  make  towards  land ;  learn  of  the  steward  to 
make  friends  of  the  unrighteous  Mammon.  You  can  not 
but  have  much  of  your  estate  (pardon  my 'plainness)  ill 
got.  Think  how  much  of  that  you  never  spake  for,  how 
much  by  speaking  unjustly  or  in  unjust  causes.  Account 
it  then  a  blessing  of  God  if  thus  it  may  be  laid  out  for 
your  good,  and  not  left  for  your  heir. 

"  Do  not,  if  you  be  restored,  as  some  others  do,  fly 
from  the  service  of  virtue  to  serve  the  time,  but  rather  let 
this  cross  make  you  zealous  in  God's  cause,  sensible  in 
ours,  and  more  sensible  in  all." 

After  much  more  reproof  and  admonition,  he  jeeringly 
advises  him  not  to  be  too  much  cast  down.  "  To  humble 
ourselves  before  God  is  the  part  of  a  Christian ;  but 


52  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I,          [1616. 

i    for  the  world  and  our  enemies  the  counsel  of  the  poet 
is  apt, 

1  Tu  ne  cede  malis,  sed  contra  audentior  ito.'  >M 

In  no  composition  that  I  have  met  with  is  there  a 
greater  display  of  vengeful  malignity.  Under  pretense  of 
acting  a  Christian  part,  he  pours  oil  of  vitriol  into  the 
wounds  he  had  inflicted.  There  seems  to  have  been  an 
intention  to  make  Coke  disgorge  some  of  his  ill-gotten 
gains,  by  a  heavy  fine  in  the  Star  Chamber.  That  was 
abandoned,  but  the  dismissal  was  consummated.  After 
the  long  vacation,  the  Chief  Justice  was  summoned  by 
Bacon  before  the  Privy  Council,  to  give  an  account  of 
what  he  had  done  in  the  way  of  correcting  his  Reports. 
He  declared  that  in  his  eleven  volumes,  containing  500 
cases,  there  were  only  four  errors,  and  that  there  were 
as  many  in  the  much-esteemed  Plowden,  which  the  wis- 
dom of  time  had  discovered,  and  later  judgments  con- 
trolled. The  order,  prompted  by  Bacon,  and  pronounced 
by  the  Lord  Chancellor,  was  "  that  the  Chief  Justice  should 
still  forbear  his  sitting  at  Westminster,  &c.,  not  restraining, 
nevertheless,  any  other  exercise  of  his  place  in  private." 

Bacon,  having  made  a  report  of  this  proceeding  to  the 
King  with  a  view  of  hastening  the  final  blow,  says, — "  If, 
upon  this  probation  added  to  former  matters,  your  Maj- 
esty think  him  not  fit  for  your  service,  we  must  in  all 
humbleness  subscribe  to  your  Majesty,  and  acknowledge 
that  neither  his  displacing,  considering  he  holdeth  his 
place  but  during  your  will  and  pleasure,  nor  the  choice  of 
a  fit  man  to  put  in  his  room,  are  council-table  matters, 
but  are  to  proceed  wholly  from  your  Majesty's  great  wis- 
dom and  pleasure.  So  that  in  this  course  it  is  but  the 
signification  of  your  pleasure,  and  the  business  is  at  an 
end  as  to  him." 

At  length  Bacon  had  the  exquisite  delight  of  making 
out  Coke's  "  supersedeas^ and  a  warrant  to  the  Lord  Chan- 
cellor for  a  writ  to  create  a  new  Chief  Justice.8 

To  add  to  his  satisfaction,  he  contrived  to  get  himself 
into  the  good  graces  of  Prince  Charles,  and  was  appointed 
Chancellor  of  the  Duchy  of  Cornwall. 

1  Works,  v.  403. 

s  Sir  E.  Coke  was  removed  Nov.  15,  1616,  and  Sir  Henry  Montagu  was 
sworn  in  as  his  successor  the  following  day. 


1617.]  LORD    BACON.  53 

The  office  of  Chief  Justice  of  the  King's  Bench  he 
declined,  on  account  of  the  moribund  condition  of  Lord 
Ellesmere. 


CHAPTER  LV. 

CONTINUATION    OF  THE   LIFE  OF  LORD   BACON  FROM   HIS 
APPOINTMENT  AS   CHANCELLOR   TILL   HIS   FALL. 

THERE  was  nothing  now  wanting  to  the  earthly 
felicity  of  Bacon  except  the  actual  possession  of  the 
Great  Seal  of  England.  He  continued  from  time 
to  time  to  remind  the  King  of  his  pretensions;  and  he  in- 
duced the  Prince  to  say  a  good  word  for  his  further  ad- 
vancement. He  pretended  that  the  King's  service  was 
his  great  object,  adding,  "  Were  your  Majesty  mounted 
and  seated  without  difficulties  and  distastes  in  your  busi- 
ness as  I  desire  to  see  you,  I  should  ex  animo  desire  to 
spend  the  decline  of  my  years  in  my  studies ;  wherein, 
also,  I  should  not  forget  to  do  him  honor,  who,  besides 
his  active  and  politic  virtues,  is  the  best  pen  of  Kings, 
much  more,  the  best  subject  of  a  pen." 

On  the  7th  of  March,  1617,  his  wish  was  accomplished. 
The  Great  Seal,  having  been  surrendered  by  Lord  Elles- 
mere, was,  between  the  hours  of  eleven  and  twelve  on  that 
day,  in  the  Palace  at  Whitehall,  delivered  to  Sir  FRANCIS 
BACON- by  the  King,  who,  at  the  same  time,  in  a  speech, 
graciously  commemorated  his  services  as  Solicitor  General, 
Attorney  General,  and  Privy  Councillor,  and  gave  him 
four  admonitions  for  his  guidance  as  Lord  Keeper : — I .  To 
restrain  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Court  within  its  true  and 
due  limits.  2.  Not  to  put  the  Great  Seal  to  letters 
patent  without  due  consideration.  Quod  dub  it  es  ne  feceris. 
3.  To  retrench  all  unnecessary  delays.  Bis  dat  qui  cito 
dat.  4.  That  justice  might  pass  with  as  easy  charge 
as  might  be.1  Sir  Francis,  on  bended  knees,  humbly,  and 
with  a  most  grateful  mind,  acknowledged  the  constant 
and  never-tiring  kindness  of  the  King,  who  had  conducted 

1  "  Predictus  Franciscus  Bacon  flexis  genibus  humiliter  gratiosissimo  animo 

agnovit  constantem  Dni  Regis  et  prennem  beneficor,  cursum  utpote  qui  per 
tot  gradus  eum  manu  quasi  duxerit  ad  sum,  honoris  fastigium,"  £c. — Cl.  R.  16 
Jac.  I. 


54  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.          [1617. 

him,  step  by  step,  to  the  highest  pinnacle  of  honor, — pro- 
fessing dutifully  his  determination  to  preserve  all  the 
rights  and  prerogatives  of  the  Crown, — equally  to  admin- 
ister the  law  to  all  in  the  Courts  in  which  he  himself 
should  preside,  and  to  exercise  a  general  superintendence 
over  the  administration  of  justice  throughout  the  realm. 

As  soon  as  Bacon  had  got  home — the  Great  Seal,  in  its 
silken  purse,  lying  on  the  table  ^before  him — his  eye 
glancing  from  the  paper  to  the  long-courted  bauble,  and 
his  heart  overflowing  with  gratitude — he  wrote  the  fol- 
lowing letter  to  Villiers,  now  Earl  of  Buckingham,  who 
had  witnessed  the  ceremony  at  Whitehall : — 

"  My  dearest  Lord, — It  is  both  in  cares  and  kindness 
that  small  ones  float  up  to  the  tongue,  and  great  ones  sink 
down  into  the  heart  in  silence.  Therefore,  I  could  speak 
little  to  your  Lordship  to-day,  neither  had  I  fit  a  time  ; 
but  I  must  profess  thus  much,  that,  in  this  day's  work, 
you  are  the  truest  and  perfectest  mirror  and  example  of 
firm  and  generous  friendship  that  ever  was  in  Court.  And 
I  shall  count  every  day  lost  wherein  I  shall  not  either 
study  your  well-doing  in  thought,  or  do  your  name 
honor  in  speech,  or  perform  your  service  in  deed.  Good 
my  Lord,  account  and  accept  me 

"  Your  most  bounden  and  devoted  Friend, 

"  and  Servant  of  all  men  living, 

"  FR.  BACON,  C.  S."  * 

With  what  rapture  he  must  have  written  the  letters 
C.  S.,  which  he  added  to  his  name  for  the  first  time  !  It 
has  been  supposed  by  some  of  his  blind  admirers  that  he 
reluctantly  submitted  to  his  elevation,  and  that,  inwardly 
desirous  of  retirement  and  contemplation,  he  would  have 
shut  himself  up  for  the  rest  of  his  days  in  his  library  at 
Gorhambury,  had  it  not  been  for  the  importunities  of  his 
family  and  dependents,  joined  to  his  hope  of  being  able 
to  do  more  good  to  mankind  by  sacrificing  his  inclinations, 
and  showing  to  the  world  what  could  be  effected  by  a  phi- 
losopher in  high  office  and  in  the  exercise  of  great  power. 
For  this  opinion  no  better  reason  can  be  given  than  an 
extract  of  an  Essay  written  by  him  while  a  student  in 
Gray's  Inn  : — "  Men  in  great  place  are  thrice  servants  ; 
servants  of  the  Sovereign  or  state  ;  servants  of  fame ;  and 
servants  of  business :  so  as  they  have  no  freedom,  neither 

1  Works,  vol.  v.  463. 


1617.]  LORD    BACON.  55 

in  their  persons,  nor  in  their  actions,  nor  in  their  times. 
It  is  a  strange  desire  to  seek  power  and  to  lose  liberty,  or 
to  seek  power  over  others  and  to  lose  power  over  a  man's 
self."  It  may  as  well  be  said  that  he  despised  money, 
because  in  his  writings  he  calls  riches  "  the  baggage  of 
virtue."  In  seasons  of  reflection  and  remorse  he  must 
often  have  said  to  himself — 


-"  Video  meliora  proboque  ; 


Deteriora  s'equor." 

His  first  act  was  graceful  and  becoming  ;  he  went  next 
day  to  York  House  to  pay  his  respects  to  his  predecessor 
— to  thank  him  for  that  kindness  which  had  contributed 
to  his  advancement — and,  in  the  King's  name,  to  offer 
him  an  Earldom. 

The  Court  was  now  in  the  bustle  of  preparation  for 
James's  visit  to  Scotland.  On  his  accession  to  the  throne 
of  England,  he  had  promised  his  countrymen  to  pay  them 
at  least  a  triennial  visit ;  but  during  fourteen  long  years 
the  halls  of  Holyrood  had  been  empty — and  the  progress 
to  the  North,  at  last  about  to  take  place,  attracted  the 
attention  of  both  nations.  Buckingham  was  to  accom- 
pany the  King,  that  he  might  direct  his  proceedings,  and 
take  care  that  no  fresh  favorite  should  engage  his  affec- 
tions. The  new  Lord  Keeper  was  to  be  left  at  the  head 
of  the  government  in  London.  In  the  contemplation  of 
this  journey,  he  had  prepared,  while  Attorney  General, 
"  Remembrances  for  the  King  before  his  going  into  Scot- 
land ;"  and  he  now  sketched  out  the  "  Council  business" 
to  be  done  in  his  Majesty's  absence,  the  great  object  of 
which  was  to  preserve  the  public  tranquillity  during  Easter 
term,  when  the  town  was  expected  to  be  very  full  of  com- 
pany.2 The  King  took  his  departure  from  Whitehall  on 
the  I4th  of  March,  exactly  a  week  after  Bacon  had  re- 
ceived the  Great  Seal. 

It  was  luckily  vacation  time,  and  the  Lord  Keeper  had 
full  leisure  to  prepare  for  entering  on  the  discharge  of  his 
judicial  duties.  His  promotion  had  given  general  satis- 

1  Essay,  "  Of  Great  Place." 

8  These  papers  show  that  the  attendance  of  persons  in  London  from  the 
country,  now  depending  on  the  meeting  of  parliament,  was  then  regulated  by 
the  law  terms,  and  this  seems  to  have  continued  to  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne  : 
"  Rhymes  ere  he  wakes,  and  prints  before  term  ends, 
Obliged  by  hunger  and  request  of  friends." 


56  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.     -       [1617. 

faction  ;  he  was  congratulated  upon  it  not  only  by  his 
Alma  Mater,  but  by  the  University  of  Oxford,1  and  the 
universal  expectation  was,  that  the  beau  iddal  of  a  perfect 
Judge,  which  he  had  so  admirably  imaged  in  his  Essay 
"  Of  Judicature,"  was  really  to  be  exemplified  to  the  ad- 
miring gaze  of  mankind. 

At  the  commencement  of  his  judicial  career  there  was 
no  disappointment.  On  the  7th  of  May,  the  first  day  of 
Easter  Term,  he  took  his  seat  in  the  Court  of  Chancery. 
The  splendor  of  the  ceremony  was  little  impaired  by  the 
absence  of  the  grandees  who  were  attending  the  King, — 
their  place  being  supplied  by  the  general  eagerness  to  do 
honor  to  the  new  Lord  Keeper.  The  procession  was 
formed  at  his  "  lodging"  in  Gray's  Inn,  and  marched  by 
Holborn,  Chancery  Lane,  the  Strand,  Charing,  White- 
hall, and  King  Street,  to  Westminster  Hall,  in  the  follow- 
ing order: — I.  Clerks  and  officers  in  Chancery.  2.  Stu- 
dents of  Law.  3.  Sergeant-at-arms,  purse-bearer,  and 
gentlemen  servants  of  the  Lord  Keeper.  4.  The  Lord 
Keeper,  in  a  gown  of  purple  satin,  riding  between  the 
Lord  Treasurer  and  the  Keeper  of  the  Privy  Seal.  5. 
Earls  and  Barons.  6.  Privy  Councillors.  7.  The  Judges. 
8.  Knights  and  Esquires ; — all  of  whom  followed  the 
Lord  Keeper,  mounted  on  caparisoned  steeds.  Alighting 
in  Palace  Yard,  and  entering  Westminster  Hall,  the  Lord 
Keeper  was  received  by  the  Sergeants  at  Law  and  the 
Benchers  and  Readers  of  the  Inns  of  Court,  and  con- 
ducted into  the  Court  of  Chancery,  now  filled  with  those 
who  had  composed  the  cavalcade. 

The  oaths  being  administered  to  him,  he  delivered  an 
address  on  which  he  had  bestowed  much  pains,  and  which 
shows  his  intimate  familiarity  with  the  duties  he  had  to 
perform.  He  thus  began  : — "  Before  I  enter  into  the  busi- 
ness of  the  Court,  I  shall  take  advantage  of  so  many  hon- 
orable witnesses  to  publish  and  make  known  summarily 
what  charge  the  King's  most  excellent  Majesty  gave  me 

1  To  Cambridge  he  replied,  "  Your  gratulations  shall  be  no  more  welcome 
to  me  than  your  business  or  occasions,  which  I  will  attend  ;  and  yet  not  so 
but  that  I  shall  endeavour  to  prevent  them  by  my  care  of  your  good."  To 
Oxford  :  "  I  shall,  by  the  grace  of  God,  as  far  as  may  concern  me,  hold  the 
balance  as  equally  between  the  two  Universities'  as  I  shall  hold  the  balance  of 
other  justice  between  party  and  party.  And  yet  in  both  cases  I  must  meet 
with  some  inclinations  of  affection,  which  nevertheless  shall  not  carry  me 
aside." — April  12,  1617. 


1617.]  LORD    BACON.  57 

when  I  received  the  Seal,  and  what  orders  and  resolutions 
I  myself  have  taken  in  conformity  to  that  charge,  that  the 
King  may  have  the  honor  of  direction,  and  I  the  part  of 
obedience."  After  some  pardonable  flattery  of  his  royal 
Master,  he  proceeds  to  lay  down  most  excellent  practical 
rules,  which  he  undertook  to  observe.  "  I  am  resolved 
that  my  decree  shall  come  speedily,  if  not  instantly,  after 
the  hearing,  and  my  signed  decree  speedily  upon  my  de- 
cree pronounced.  For  it  hath  been  a  manner  much  used 
of  late  in  my  Lord's  time,  of  whom  I  learn  much  to  imi- 
tate, and  somewhat  to  avoid,  that  upon  the  solemn  and 
full  hearing  of  a  cause  nothing  is  pronounced  in  Court, 
but  breviates  are  required  to  be  made,  which  I  do  not  dis- 
like in  itself  in  causes  perplexed.  But  yet  I  find,  when 
such  breviates  were  taken,  the  cause  was  sometimes  for- 
gotten a  term  or  two,  and  then  set  down  for  a  new  hear- 
ing. I  will  promise  regularly  to  pronounce  my  decree 
within  a  few  days  after  my  hearing,  and  to  sign  my  de- 
cree, at  the  least,  in  the  vacation  after  the  pronouncing. 
For  fresh  justice  is  sweetest. 

"Again,  because  justice  is  a  sacred  thing,  and  the  end 
for  which  I  am 'called  to  this  place,  and  therefore  is  my 
way  to  heaven  (and  if  it  be  shorter,  it  is  never  a  whit  the 
worse),  I  shall,  by  the  grace  of  God,  as  far  as  God  will 
give  me  strength,  add  the  afternoon  to  the  forenoon, 
and  some  fortnight  of  the  vacation  to  the  term,  for  the 
expediting  and  clearing  of  the  causes  of  the  Court  ;  only 
the  depth  of  the  three  long  vacations  I  would  reserve,  in 
some  measure,  free  from  business  of  estate,  and  for  studies, 
arts,  and  sciences,  to  which,  in  my  own  nature,  I  am  most 
induced.1 

"There  is  another  point  of  true  expedition  which  resteth 
much  in  itself,  and  that  is  in  my  manner  of  giving  orders. 
For  I  have  seen  an  affectation  of  dispatch  turn  utterly  to 
delay  at  length.  But  I  mean  not  to  purchase  the  praise 
of  expedition  in  that  kind.  My  endeavor  shall  be  to  hear 
patiently,  and  to  cast  my  order  into  such  a  mold  as  may 
soonest  bring  the  subject  to  the  end  of  his  journey. 

"  I  will  maintain  strictly  and  with  severity  the  former 
orders  which  I  find  my  Lord  Chancellor  hath  taken  for 
the  immoderate  and  needless  prolixity  and  length  of  bills 

1  He  here  beautifully  pays  homage  to  philosophy. 


58  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.          [1617. 

and  answers,  as  well  in  punishing  the  party  as  fining  the 
counsel  whose  hand  I  shall  find  at  such  bills  and  answers. 

"  I  shall  be  careful  there  be  no  exaction  of  any  new  fees, 
but  according  as  they  have  been  heretofore  set  and  tabled. 
As  for  lawyers'  fees,  I  must  leave  that  to  the  conscience 
and  merit  of  the  lawyer,  and  estimation  and  gratitude  of 
the  client." 

After  touching  on  other  topics  rather  of  temporary  in- 
terest, he  intimates  his  intention,  for  the  sake  of  the  junior 
barristers  who  could  not  be  heard  above  once  or  twice  in 
a  term,  to  hear  motions  every  Tuesday  between  nine  and 
eleven, — and  he  proceeds  to  announce  to  their  Lordships 
what  he  truly  calls  "  a  fancy " — which  would  cause  a 
mutiny  at  the  bar  in  our  times.  "  It  falleth  out  that  there 
be  three  of  us  the  King's  servants,  in  great  places,  that  are 
lawyers  by  descent,  Mr.  Attorney,  son  of  a  Judge.  Mr. 
Solicitor,  likewise  son  of  a  Judge,  and  myself,  a  Chan- 
cellor's son.  Now,  because  the  law  roots  so  well  in  my 
time,  I  will  water  it  at  the  root  thus  far,  as  besides  these 
great  ones  I  will  hear  any  Judge's  son  before  a  Sergeant, 
and  any  Sergeant's  son  before  a  reader,  if  there  be  not 
many  of  them." 

He  announced  that  he  was  preparing  "  new  orders  "  to 
regulate  the  practice  of  the  Court, — and  again  proclaimed 
his  loyalty  by  saying, — "  It  is  my  comfort  to  serve  such  a 
Master,  that  I  shall  need  to  be  but  a  conduit  only  for  the 
conveying  of  his  goodness  to  his  people," — not  omitting 
a  pious  compliment  to  his  father, — "  optimus  magistratus 
prcestat  optima  legi ;  for  myself  I  doubt  I  shall  not  attain 
it  ;  yet  I  have  a  domestic  example  to  follow."  ' 

Next  morning  he  wrote  an  account  of  the  ceremony 
to  Buckingham : — 

"  Yesterday  I  took  my  place  in  Chancery,  which  I  hold 
only  for  the  King's  grace  and  favor,  and  your  constant 
friendship.  There  was  much  ado  and  a  great  deal  of 
world :  but  this  matter  of  pomp,  which  is  heaven  to  some 
men,  is  hell  to  me  (?)  or  purgatory  at  least.  It  is  true  I 
was  glad  to  see  that  the  King's  choice  was  so  generally 
approved,  and  that  I  had  so  much  interest  in  men's  good 
will  and  good  opinions,  because  it  maketh  me  a  fitter  in- 
strument to  do  my  Master  service,  and  my  friend  also. 
After  I  was  set  in  Chancery,  I  published  his  Majesty's 

1  Works,  iv.  486. 


1617.]  LORD     BACON.  59 

charge  which  he  gave  me  when  he  gave  me  the  Seal,  and 
what  rules  and  resolutions  I  had  taken  for  the  fulfilling  his 
commandments.  I  send  your  Lordship  a  copy  of  what  I 
said.  Men  tell  me  it  hath  done  the  King  a  great  deal  of 
honor,  insomuch  that  some  of  my  friends,  that  are  wise 
and  no  vain  ones,  did  not  stick  to  say  to  me  that  there 
was  not  this  seven  years  such  a  preparation  for  a  parlia- 
ment,— which  was  a  commendation  which  I  confess  pleased 
me  well.  I  pray  take  some  fit  time  to  show  it  his  Majesty, 
because,  if  I  misunderstood  him  in  anything,  I  may  amend 
it,  because  I  know  his  judgment  is  higher  and  deeper  than 
mine."  1 

He  was  greatly  delighted  with  the  following  answer: — • 
"  I  have  acquainted  his  Majesty  with  your  letter  and 
the  papers  that  came  enclosed,  who  is  exceedingly  well 
satisfied — especially  with  the  speech  you  made  at  the 
taking  of  your  place  in  the  Chancery.  Whereby  his  Ma- 
esty  perceiveth  that  you  have  not  only  given  proof  how 
well  you  understand  the  place  of  a  Chancellor,  but  done 
him  much  right  also  in  giving  notice  to  those  that  were 
present,  that  you  have  received  such  instructions  from  his 
Majesty,  whose  honor  will  be  so  much  the  greater  in  that 
all  men  will  acknowledge  the  sufficiency  and  worthiness 
of  his  Majesty's  choice  in  preferring  a  man  of  such  abilities 
to  that  place,  which  besides  can  not  but  be  a  great  ad- 
vancement and  furtherance  to  his  service  ;  and  I  can  as- 
sure your  Lordship  that  his  Majesty  was  never  so  well 
pleased  as  he  is  with  this  account  you  have  given  him  of 
this  passage."  3 

The  Lord  Keeper  resolved  to  show  what  could  be  ef- 
fected by  vigor  and  perseverance.  He  sat  forenoon  and 
afternoon, — coming  punctually  into  Court  and  staying  a 
little  beyond  his  time  to  finish  a  matter,  which  if  post- 
poned might  have  taken  another  day, — most  patiently 
listening  to  everything  that  could  assist  him  in  arriving  at 
a  right  conclusion,  but  giving  a  broad  hint  to  counsel  by 
a  question,  a  shrug,  or  a  look,  when  they  were  wandering 
from  the  subject, — not  baulking  the  hopes  of  the  suitors 
by  breaking  up  to  attend  a  Cabinet  or  the  House  of  Lords, 
— not  encouraging  lengthiness  at  the  bar  to  save  the 
trouble  of  thought,  not  postponing  judgment  till  the 

1  Works,  v.  469.  Bacon  no  doubt  expected  that  the  letter,  as  well  as  the 
address,  would  be  laid  before  the  King.  2  Works,  v.  475. 


60  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.  [1617. 

argument  was  forgotten, — not  seeking  to  allay  the  dis- 
content of  the  bar  by  '*  nods,  and  becks,  and  wreathed 
smiles." 

At  the  end  of  one  month  he  had  satisfactorily  cleared 
off  the  whole  arrear,  and  on  the  8th  of  June  he  thus 
exultingly  writes  to  Buckingham : — 

"  My  very  good  Lord, — This  day  I  have  made  even  with 
the  business  of  the  kingdom  for  common  justice  ;  not  one 
cause  unheard  :  the  lawyers  drawn  dry  of  all  the  motions 
they  were  to  make;  not  one  petition  unanswered.  And 
this  I  think  could  not  be  said  in  our  age  before.  This  I 
speak  not  out  of  ostentation,  but  out  of  gladness  when  I 
have  done  my  duty.  I  know  men  think  I  can  not  continue 
if  I  should  thus  oppress  myself  with  business  ;  but  that 
account  is  made.  The  duties  of  life  are  more  than  life  ; 
and  if  I  die  now,  I  shall  die  before  the  world  will  be  weary 
of  me,  which  in  our  times  is  somewhat  rare."  1 

He  then  goes  on  to  mention  a  slight  attack  of  the  gout 
in  his  foot,  which  he  ascribed  to  "  changing  from  a  field 
air  to  a  Thames  air,"  that  is,  from  Gray's  Inn  to  York 
House,  of  which  he  had  now  taken  possession  with  great 
delight,  as  his  father  had  so  long  occupied  it,  and  it  was 
the  place  of  his  own  birth.4 

To  gain  the  good  will  of  the  profession,  he  wisely  re- 
vived a  practice  which,  having  succeeded  well  with  Lord 
Chancellor  Hatton,  had  fallen  into  desuetude,  and  which 
all  prudent  Chancellors  follow, — to  give  dinners  to  the 
Judges  and  the  leaders  of  the  bar.3  He  sends  the  follow- 

1  Works,  vi.  149. 

8  York  House  having  been  the  residence  of  so  many  Chancellors  and  Lord 
Keepers,  and  being  so  often  mentioned,  some  further  account  of  it  may  pleas* 
the  curious  reader.  The  see  of  York  being  deprived  of  its  ancient  inn  by 
Wolsey's  cession  of  Whitehall  to  Henry  VIII.,  Heath,  Archbishop  of  York 
and  Chancellor,  purchased  a  piece  of  land  and  certain  old  buildings  between 
the  river  Thames  and  the  Strand,  near  where  Villiers  Street  now  stands  ;  there 
he  erected  York  House,  in  which  he  resided,  and  which,  under  leases  from 
successive  Archbishops  of  York,  was  occupied  by  almost  all  the  holders  of  the 
Great  Seal  who  succeeded  him  down  to  Lord  Bacon.  The  hall  was  fitted  as 
a  court  for  business  in  the  afternoons  and  out  of  term,  and  it  contained 
various  accommodations  for  the  Chancellor's  officers.  Coming  by  exchange 
to  the  Crown,  after  the  fall  of  Bacon,  it  was  granted  to  Buckingham.  Being 
seized  as  forfeited  by  the  Long  Parliament,  it  was  granted  to  Lord  Fairfax, 
but  reverting  to  the  second  Duke  of  Buckingham,  he  sold  it  for  building,  and 
there  were  erected  upon  it  "  George  Street,"  "  Villiers  Street,"  "  Duke  Street," 
and  "  Buckingham  Street,"  which,  with  "  Of  Alley,"  still  preserve  his  name 
and  title — the  lines  of  Pope  being  a  lasting  record  of  his  infamy. 

3  The  complaints  of  Lord  Eldon's  delays  were  much  aggravated  by  his 


1617.]  LORD    BACON.  61 

ing  account  in  a  letter  to  Buckingham  of  his  first  ban- 
quet : — 

"  Yesterday,  which  was  my  weary  day,  I  bid  all  the 
Judges  to  dinner,  which  was  not  used  to  be,  and  enter- 
tained them  in  a  private  withdrawing  chamber  with  the 
learned  counsel.  When  the  feast  was  past,  I  came  amongst 
them  and  sat  me  down  at  the  end  of  the  table,  and  prayed 
them  to  think  I  was  one  of  them  and  but  a  foreman.1  I 
told  them  I  was  weary,  and  therefore  must  be  short,  and 
would  now  speak  to  them  upon  two  points."  The  first 
was  about  injunctions  : — "  I  plainly  told  them  that,  for 
my  part,  as  I  would  not  suffer  any  the  least  diminution 
or  derogation  from  the  ancient  and  due  power  of  the 
Chancery,  so  if  anything  should  be  brought  to  them  at 
any  time  touching  the  proceedings  of  the  Chancery,  which 
did  seem  to  them  exorbitant  or  inordinate,  that  they 
should  freely  and  friendly  acquaint  me  with  it,  and  we 
should  soon  agree  ;  or  if  not,  we  had  a  Master  that  could 
easily  both  discern  and  rule.  At  which  speech  of  mine, 
besides  a  great  deal  of  thanks  and  acknowledgment,  I  did 
see  cheer  and  comfort  in  their  faces,  as  if  it  were  a  new 
world.'''  The  second  point  was,  requiring  from  each  of 
them  a  written  account  of  what  they  had  done  and  ob- 
served on  circuits,  to  be  sent  to  the  King. 

What  was  not  so  laudable, — he  already  began  to  tamper 
privately  with  the  Judges,  and  soliciting  such  of  them  as 
were  most  apt  for  his  purpose,  prosecuted  a  scheme  for 
extending-  still  farther  the  usurped  jurisdiction  of  the 
High  Commission  Court. 

He  continued  regularly  to  correspond  on  all  matters  of 
State  with  the  King  and  Buckingham,  who  were  holding 
a  parliament  in  Scotland,  in  the  vain  hope  of  establishing 
episcopacy  in  that  country.  Having  at  first  ventured  to 
oppose  the  projected  matrimonial  alliance  between  Prince 

non-feasance  in  this  respect.  During  a  course  of  professional  dinners  by  Sir 
Thomas  Plomer,  Romilly  observed,  that  "  the  Master  of  the  Rolls  was  very 
properly  clearing  off  the  arrears  of  the  Lord  Chancellor." 

1  I  do  not  exactly  understand  how  my  Lord  Keeper  Bacon  comported  him- 
self on  this  occasion.  Are  we  to  understand  that  he  could  not  be  at  table 
during  dinner  from  indisposition  ?  or  that  he  was  too  great  to  eat  with  his 
company,  and  condescendingly  asked  them  to  "  think  he  was  one  of  them," 
when  he  came  in  to  harangue  them  ?  Whoever  has  had  the  good  fortune  to 
be  present  when  Lord  Chancellor  Lyndhurst  presides  at  similar  dinners,  will 
form  a  better  opinion  of  the  manners  of  the  man  and  the  times. 


62  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.  [1617. 

Charles  and  the  Infanta  of  Spain,  he  yielded  to  the 
King's  wishes,  and  did  all  in  his  power  to  promote  it. 

He  was  thus  in  the  highest  possible  favor,  when  sud- 
denly his  inextinguishable  enmity  to  Sir  E.  Coke  had 
nearly  accomplished  his  ruin.  Not  satisfied  with  turning 
him  out  of  his  office  of  Chief  Justice,  and  erasing  his 
name  from  the  list  of  Privy  Councillors,  Bacon  still  went 
on  with  the  absurd  charge  against  him  about  his  Reports, 
and  hoped  to  "  make  a  Star  Chamber  business  of  it."  ' 

The  Ex-Chief  Justice  counteracted  this  scheme  by  a 
most  masterly  stroke  of  policy.  His  second  wife,  Lady 
Hatton,  had  brought  him  one  child,  a  daughter,  who  was 
to  succeed  to  all  her  mother's  immense  property.  This 
heiress  he  offered  in  marriage  to  Sir  John  Villiers,  the 
brother  of  the  favorite,  who  was  eager  for  the  aggran.- 
dizement  of  his  family.  The  proposal  was  highly  agree- 
able to  both  brothers  and  their  mother  who  ruled  them, 
— but  most  highly  alarming  to  Bacon.  He  was  delighted 
to  hear  that  Lady  Hatton  disliked  the  match  as  much 
as  himself,  and  forgetting  the  scornful  usage  he  had  ex- 
perienced from  her  in  former  days,  when  he  sought  her 
hand  in  marriage, — he  opened  a  correspondence  with 
her,  and  strenuously  abetted  her  resistance.  Without 
duly  considering  what  were  likely  to  be  the  feelings  of 
Buckingham  on  the  occasion,  he  wrote  to  him : — "  The 
mother's  consent  is  not  had,  nor  the  young  gentlewoman's, 
who  expecteth  a  great  fortune  from  her  mother,  which, 
without  her  consent,  is  endangered.  This  match,  out  of 
my  faith  and  freedom  towards  your  Lordship,  I  hold  very 
inconvenient  both  for  your  brother  and  yourself.  First, 
he  shall  marry  into  a  disgraced  house,  which  in  reason  of 
state  is  never  held  good.  Next,  he  shall  marry  into  a 
troubled  house  of  man  and  wife,  which  in  religion  and 
Christian  discretion  is  disliked.  Thirdly,  your  Lordship 
will  go  near  to  lose  all  such  your  friends  as  are  adverse  to 
Sir  Edward  Coke,  myself  only  except,  who,  out  of  a  pure 
love  and  thankfulness  shall  ever  be  firm  to  you.  And, 
lastly  and  chiefly,  it  will  greatly  weaken  and  distract  the 
King's  service."  He  therefore  strongly  advises  that  the 
match  shall  be  broken  off,  "  or  not  proceeded  in  without 

1  "  I  did  call  upon  the  committees  also  for  the  proceeding  in  their  purging 
of  Sir  Edward  Coke's  Reports,  which  I  see  they  go  on  with  seriously,"-- 
Bacon  to  Buckingham,  May,  1617. 


1617.]  LORD    BACON.  63 

the  consent  of  both  parents,  required  by  religion  and  the 
law  of  God." ' 

Bacon  wrote  still  more  strongly  to  the  King,  pointing 
out  the  public  mischief  which  would  arise  from  the  notion 
that  Coke  was  about  to  be  restored  to  favor.  "  Now, 
then,  I  reasonably  doubt  that,  if  there  be  but  an  opinion 
of  his  coming  in  with  the  strength  of  such  an  alliance,  it 
will  give  a  turn  and  relapse  in  men's  mind's  into  the 
former  state  of  things  hardly  to  be  helpen,  to  the  great 
weakening  of  your  Majesty's  service."  Having  dwelt 
upon  the  dangerous  influence  which  Coke  might  thus 
acquire  if  a  parliament  were  called,  he  contrasts  himself 
with  the  dangerous  rival — whose  coming  patriotism  seems 
to  have  cast  its  shadow  before :  I  am  omnibus  omnia  for 
your  Majesty's  service  ;  but  he  is  by  nature  unsociable, 
and  by  habit  popular,  and  too  old  now  to  take  a  new  ply. 
And  men  begin  already  to  collect,  yea,  and  to  conclude, 
that  he  that  raiseth  such  a  smoke  to  get  in,  will  set  all  on 
fire  when  he  is  in."8  Bacon's  head  was  so  turned  by  his 
elevation,  that  in  this  letter  he  madly  went  so  far  as  to 
throw  out  some  sarcasms  upon  the  favorite  himself.  To 
him",  as  might  have  been  expected,  it  was  immediately 
communicated.  Buckingham  was  thrown  in  an  ecstacy 
of  rage,  and  he  easily  contrived  to  make  the  King,  if 
possible,  more  indignant  at  the  presumption  and  imper- 
tinence of  the  Lord  Keeper. 

Meanwhile  the  plot  thickened  in  England.  Lady  Hat- 
ton,  with  the  concurrence  of  her  present  adviser,  carried 
off  her  daughter,  and  concealed  her  in  a  country  house 
near  Hampton  Court.  The  Ex-Chief  Justice,  tracing  the 
young  lady  to  her  hiding  place,  demanded  a  warrant  from 
the  Lord  Keeper  to  recover  her,  and  this  being  refused, 
he  went  thither  at  the  head  of  a  band  of  armed  men,  and 
forcibly  rescued  her.  For  this  alleged  outrage  he  was 
summoned,  and  several  times  examined  before  the  Coun- 
cil,— and,  by  the  Lord  Keeper's  directions,  Yelverton,  the 
Attorney  General,  filed  an  information  against  him  in  the 
Star  Chamber. 

Intelligence  of  these  events  being  brought  to  Edin- 
burgh, the  King  and  Buckingham  put  an  end  to  the 
sullen  silence  they  had  for  some  time  observed  towards 

1  Bacon's  works,  v.  477.  *  Ibid.,  v.  478. 


64  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.          [1617. 

the  Lord  Keeper,1  and  wrote  him  letters  filled  with  bitter 
complaints,  invectives,  and  threats.  Bacon  suddenly 
awoke  as  from  a  dream,  and  all  at  once  saw  his  im- 
prudence and  his  danger.  In  an  agony  of  terror,  he 
ordered  the  Attorney  General  to  discontinue  the  prose- 
cution in  the  Star  Chamber;  he  sent  for  Lady  Hatton, 
and  tried  to  reconcile  her  to  the  match,  and  he  made  the 
most  abject  submission  to  Buckingham's  mother,  who 
had  complained  of  having  been  insulted  by  him.  He  then 
sent  dispatches  by  a  special  messenger  to  Edinburgh,  to 
relate  his  altered  conduct. 

There  never  was  a  more  striking  instance  of  "  kissing 
the  rod"  then  is  exhibited  in  his  answer  to  the  King.  "  I 
do  very  much  thank  your  Majesty  for  your  letter,  and  I 
think  myself  much  honored  by  it.  For  though  it  con- 
tains some  matter  of  dislike,  in  which  respect  it  hath 
grieved  me  more  than  any  event  which  hath  fallen  out  in 
my  life,  yet  I  know  reprehensions  from  the  first  masters 
to  the  best  servants  are  necessary,  and  chastisement, 
though  not  pleasant  for  the  time,  worketh  good  effects." 
But  the  great  difficulty  was  to  explain  away  the  dis- 
paraging expressions  he  had  so  unguardedly  used  about 
Buckingham.  "  I  know  him  to  be  naturally  a  wise  man, 
of  a  sound  and  staid  wit,  as  I  ever  said  unto  your  Majesty. 
And  again,  I  know  he  hath  the  best  tutor  in  Europe. 
But  yet  I  was  afraid  that  the  height  of  his  fortune  might 
make  him  too  secure,  and,  as  the  proverb  is,  a  looker  on 
sectli  more  than  a  gamester"  With  respect  to  his  treat- 
ment of  Sir  Edward  Coke,  he  says,  "  I  was  sometimes 
sharp,  it  may  be  too  much,  but  it  was  with  end  to  have 
your  Majesty's  will  performed,  or  else  when  methought 
he  was  more  peremptory  then  became  him,  in  respect  of 
the  honor  of  the  table.8  It  is  true,  also,  that  I  disliked 
the  riot  of  violence  whereof  we  of  the  Council  gave  your 
Majesty  advertisement,  and  I  disliked  it  the  more  because 
he  justified  it  by  law,  which  was  his  old  song.  Now  that 
your  Majesty  hath  been  pleased  to  open  yourself  to  me, 
I  shall  be  willing  to  further  the  match  by  anything  that 
shall  be  desired  of  me,  or  that  is  in  my  power."  3 

1  Bacon  had  complained  of  this  silence.  "  I  do  think  long  to  hear  from 
your  Lordship  touching  my  last  letter,  wherein  I  gave  you  my  opinion  touch- 
ing your  brother's  match." — July  25,  1617. 

*  Privy  Council.  *  Works,  vi.  157. 


1617.]  LORD    BACON.  65 

James,  now  on  his  return  to  the  South, — by  order  of 
Buckingham,  wrote  back  an  answer,  showing  an  un- 
appeased  resentment : *  "  Was  not  the  thefteous  stealing 
away  of  the  daughter  from  her  own  father  the  first  ground 
whereupon  all  this  great  noise  hath  since  proceeded  ?  We 
never  took  upon  us  such  a  patrocinying  of  Sir  Edward 
Coke,  as  if  he  were  a  man  not  to  be  meddled  withal  in 
any  case.  De  bonis  operibus  non  lapidamus  vos.  But  where- 
as you  talk  of  the  riot  and  violence  committed  by  him, 
we  wonder  you  make  no  mention  of  the  riot  and  violence 
of  them  that  stole  away  his  daughter."  After  repeating 
Bacon's  explanation  about  the  favorite,  he  proceeds, 
"  Now  we  know  not  how  to  interpret  this  in  plain  English, 
otherwise  than  that  you  were  afraid  that  the  height  of 
his  fortune  might  make  him  misknow  himself.  We  find 
him  farthest  from  that  vice  of  any  courtier  that  ever  we 
had  so  near  about  us ;  so  do  we  fear  you  shall  prove  the 
only  Phoenix  in  that  jealously  of  all  the  kingdom.  We 
can  not  conceal  that  we  think  it  was  least  your  part  of 
any  to  enter  into  that  jealously  of  him,  of  whom  we  have 
often^  heard  you  speak  in  a  contrary  style.  We  will  not 
speak  of  obligation,  for  surely  we  think,  even  in  good 
manners,  you  had  reason  not  to  have  crossed  anything 
wherein  you  had  heard  his  name  used  till  you  had  heard 
from  him."3 

Bacon,  with  the  most  painful  anxiety,  awaited  the 
return  of  the  Court  to  Whitehall,  and  he  made  another 
desperate -effort,  by  a  letter  to  the  King,  to  apologize  for 
his  words  about  Buckingham.  "  My  meaning  was  plain 
and  simple,  that  his  Lordship  might,  through  his  great 
fortune,  be  the  less  apt  to  cast  and  forsee  the  unfaithful- 
ness of  friends,  and  the  malignity  of  enemies,  and  accidents 
of  time.  Therefore  I  beseech  your  Majesty  to  deliver  me 
in  this  from  any  the  least  imputation  upon  my  dear  and 
noble  Lord  and  friend." 

The  time  at  length  arrived  when  Bacon's  fate  was  to  be 
decided.  As  soon  as  he  heard  of  Buckingham's  return, 
he  hastened  to  his  house,  but  was  denied  an  audience. 
For  two  successive  days  was  he  suffered  to  remain  in  an 
antechamber,  among  lacqueys,  seated  on  an  old  wooden 
box,  with  the  purse  holding  the  Great  Seal  in  his  own 

1  It  is  superscribed  "James  R.,"  and  coldly  begins,  "  Right  trusty  and  well- 
beloved  Councillor,  we  greet  you  well."  2  Works,  vi.  161. 
in.— 5 


66  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.          [1617. 

hand,  as  if  prepared  to  go  in  the  presence  of  the  Sover- 
eign, or  to  receive  a  message  from  the  Commons  at  the 
bar  of  the  Upper  House.  When,  at  length  he  was  ad- 
mitted, he  flung  himself  on  the  floor  kissed  the  favorite's 
feet,  and  vowed  never  to  rise  till  he  was  forgiven.1 

Buckingham,  having  effectually  frightened  him  out  of 
any  future  resistance  to  his  will, — being  convinced  that 
he  himself  could  not  find  elsewhere  so  pliant  and  useful 
an  instrument  of  his  government, — accepted  his  submis- 
sion, and  agreed  to  a  reconciliation-  The  marriage  was 
celebrated, — Bacon  retained  the  Great  Seal, — and  Coke 
was  restored  to  the  Privy  Council. 

The  Lord  Keeper  was  soon  made  sensible  of  the  bond- 
age into  which  he  had  fallen.  He  was  well  aware  of  the 
evils  of  monopolies,  which  had  excited  such  complaints 
in  the  late  and  in  the  present  reign,  and  he  had  promised 
to  stay  such  grants  when  they  came  to  the  Great  Seal : 
but  Buckingham  found  them  the  readiest  means  of  en- 
riching his  own  family,  and  providing  for  dependents. 
He  therefore  multiplied  them  with  reckless  prodigality, 
and  without  any  control.  The  most  famous,  from  the 
proceedings  to  which  they  afterwards  gave  rise,  were  the 
patents  to  Sir  Giles  Mompesson,  the  original  of  Mas- 
singer's  "  Sir  Giles  Overreach,"  and  to  Sir  Francis  Michell, 
his  "  Justice  Greedy,"  for  licensing  alehouses  and  taverns, 
and  for  the  exclusive  manufacture  of  gold  and  silver  lace, 
— with  authority  to  arrest  interlopers,  and  other  powers 
as  great  as  have  ever  been  given  to  farmers  of  the  revenue 
in  the  worst  governed  states.  These  not  only  leading  to 
gross  frauds  by  the  patentees,  but  their  agents  abusing 
the  enormous  powers  conferred  upon  them  to  the  wreak- 
ing of  old  grudges,  and  even  the  corruption  of  female 
chastity, — the  public  clamor  was  so  great  that  a  reference 
was  made  by  the  King  to  the  Lord  Keeper  respecting  the 
legality  of  such  proceedings.  Having  taken  down  Sir 
Giles  with  him  to  Kew,  where  he  went  to  recreate  himself 
for  a  few  days  after  long  application  to  business,  he  re- 
ports "  that  though  there  were  some  things  he  would  set 
by,  he  found  some  things  that  he  liked  very  well," — and 
he  afterwards  gave  a  deliberate  opinion  (in  which  he  made 
the  Attorney  and  Solicitor  concur)  in  favor  of  the  validity 
of  the  gold  and  silver  wire  patent,  as  "  a  means  of  setting 

1  See  Sir  Anthony  Weldon's  account  of  this  scene. 


i6i8.]  LORD    BACON.  67 

many  of  his  Majesty's  poor  subjects  on  work  ;" — with  an 
intimation  that  "  it  were  good  the  dispute  were  settled 
with  all  convenient  speed," — which  is  supposed  to  mean, 
it  were  good  "  that  certain  of  the  house  of  Villiers  should 
go  shares  with  Overreach  and  Greedy  in  the  plunder  of 
the  public."  Sir  Edward,  a  half  brother  of  the  favorite, 
was  admitted  into  the  patent,  and  then  the  Lord  Keeper 
committed  to  prison  all  who  infringed  it. 

Buckingham's  interference  with  the  Lord  Keeper  in  his 
judicial  capacity  was  still  more  reprehensible.  Few 
causes  of  any  importance  were  about  to  come  to  a  hear- 
ing in  the  Court  of  Chancery,  in  which  he  did  not  write 
to  the  Judge  for  favor  to  either  of  the  parties.  He  at 
times  used  the  transparent  qualification,  "  so  far  as  may 
stand  with  justice  and  equity," — or  "  so  far  as  your  Lord- 
ship may  see  him  grounded  upon  equity  and  reason, "- 
and  in  a  charity  suit  he  would  pledge  himself  that  the 
defendants  charged  with  breach  of  trust  "desired  only 
the  honor  of  their  ancestor's  gift" — but  he  often  entirely 
omitted  these  decent  forms,  and  pretty  plainly  hinted 
that-he  was  to  dictate  the  decree.  While  Bacon  held  the 
Great  Seal,  I  do  not  find  one  remonstrance  against  these 
applications,  and  Buckingham,  and  those  who  paid  for 
them  must  have  believed  that  they  were  effectual.  Such 
was  the  result  of  the  advice  of  the  instructor  to  the 
pupil :  "  By  no  means  be  you  persuaded  to  interpose 
yourself,  either  by  word  or  letter,  in  any  cause  depending 
in  any  court  of  justice'!" 

As  a  reward  for  his  subserviency,  the  Lord  Keeper,  on 
the  4th  of  January,  1618,  had  the  higher  title  of  Lord 
Chancellor  conferred  upon  him,1  and  a  few  months  after, 
he  was  raised  to  the  Peerage  by  the  title  of  Baron.  Veru- 
lam — the  preamble  reciting  that  the  King  was  "  moved 
by  the  grateful  sense  he  had  of  the  many  faithful  services 
rendered  him  by  this  worthy  person" — and  the  patent 

1  The  ceremony  took  place  in  the  palace  at  Whitehall,  at  four  in  the  after- 
noon, when  "  in  presencia  excellentissimi  Principis  Caroli  Principis  Wallie, 
&c.,  predictus  Dns  Rex  prm  Mag.  Sigill.  a  custodia  dci  Dni  Custodis  Fran- 
cisci  Bacon  requirens  et  recipiens  et  penes  se  paulisper  restinens  atque  grata 
obsequia  et  fidelia  servia  dci  Dni  Custodis  non  solum  in  administratione  jus- 
ticie  sed  eciam  in  conciliis  assidue  Duo  Regi  prestita  comemorans  et  ir.ten- 
dens  ill.  ad  locum  et  officium  Dni  Cancellarii  Angl.  ulterius  erigere  et  trans- 
ferre  Regia  Majestas  eidem  Francisco  Bacon  Dno  Cust.  tanquam  Cancellar. 
suo  Angl.  Mag.  Sig.  Angl.  reddidit  et  deliberavit,"  &c. — Cl.  R.  15  Jac.  I. 


68  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.          [1618. 

being  witnessed  by  the  Prince  of  Wales  and  many  of  the 
first  nobility. 

But  he  was  now  under  considerable  apprehension  from 
the  violence  of  Lord  Clifton,  against  whom  he  had  very 
justly  pronounced  a  decree  in  the  Court  of  Chancery. 
The  noble  defendant  being  defeated  in  his  wicked  at- 
tempt, when  he  had  left  the  Court,  declared  publicly 
that  "  he  was  sorry  he  had  not  stabbed  the  Lord  Chan- 
cellor in  his  chair  the  moment  the  judgment  was  given." 
He  was  sent  to  the  Tower,  where  he  manifested  complete 
derangement  of  mind,  and  finally  destroyed  himself. 
While  he  was  in  confinement,  Bacon  thus  wrote  to  Buck- 
ingham, intimating  an  opinion  that  maniacs  should  be 
made  amenable  to  the  criminal  law,  although  it  may  not 
be  proper  to  carry  the  sentence  against  them  into  full 
effect :  "  I  little  fear  the  Lord  Clifton,  but  I  much  fear  the 
example — that  it  will  animate  ruffians  and  rodqmonti 
against  all  authority,  if  this  pass  without  censure.  The 
punishment  it  may  please  his  Majesty  to  remit ;  and  I 
shall  not  formally,  but  heartily,  intercede  for  him  ;  but  an 
example  (setting  myself  aside)  I  wish  for  terror  of  per- 
sons that  may  be  more  dangerous  than  he  towards  the 
first  Judge  of  the  kingdom." 

The  Lord  Chancellor  now  acted  rather  a  conspicuous 
part  in  an  affair  which  reflected  lasting  disgrace  on  the 
King  and  his  Councillors.  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  after 
having  been  imprisoned  many  years  in  the  Tower  since 
his  conviction  for  treason,  had  been  released  upon  a  rep- 
resentation of  the  glory  and  riches  he  could  secure  to  the 
nation  by  an  expedition  to  America,  and  having  met  with 
discomfiture,  was  in  custody  on  a  charge  of  burning  a 
Spanish  town,  and  making  war  against  Spain  contrary  to 
his  orders.  There  being  much  difficulty  as  to  the  mode 
of  proceeding  against  him,  the  Lord  Chancellor  assembled 
all  the  Judges  at  York  House,  and  concurred  with  them 
in  an  opinion  "  that  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  being  attainted 
of  high  treason,  which  is  the  highest  and  last  work  of  law, 
he  can  not  be  drawn  in  question  judicially  for  any  crime 
or  offense  since  committed" — recommending  "either  that 
a  warrant  should  be  immediately  sent  to  the  Lieutenant 
of  the  Tower  for  his  immediate  execution  under  the  for- 
mer sentence,  or  that  he  should  be  brought  before  the 
Council  and  principal  Judges,  some  of  the  nobility  and 


1618.]  LORD    BACON.  69 

gentlemen  of  quality  being  admitted  to  be  present,  and 
there  being  a  recital  of  all  his  recent  offenses,  and  then 
he  being  heard  and  withdrawn — without  any  fresh  sen- 
tence, the  Lords  of  the  Council  and  Judges  should  give 
their  advice  openly,  whether  in  respect  of  these  offenses 
the  King  might  not  with  justice  and  honor  give  warrant 
for  his  execution  on  his  attainder?"  The  course  adopted 
was  to  bring  Raleigh  to  the  King's  Bench  bar,  where 
execution  was  awarded  against  him — and  th-e  Lord  Chan- 
cellor made  out  writs  for  it,  addressed  to  the  Lieutenant 
of  the  Tower  and  the  Sheriff  of  Middlesex. 

Did  Bacon  feel  any  satisfaction  from  the  recollection 
that  Raleigh  had  been  instrumental  in  ruining  Essex,  and 
had  guarded  him  with  savage  exultation  at  his  trial  ?  No  ! 
Bacon  had  not  even  the  merit  of  being  "  a  good  hater," 
and  his  enmities  as  well  as  his  friendships  being  short- 
lived, he  would  have  been  better  pleased  if,  without  any 
inconvenience  to  himself,  this  victim  could  have  been 
spared.  When  Raleigh  was  going  on  his  expedition  to 
Guiana,  and  was  desirous  to  have  a  formal  pardon,  Bacon 
had  said  to  him,  "  Sir,  the  knee-timber  of  your  voyage  is 
money ;  spare  your  purse  in  this  particular,  for,  upon  my 
life,  you  have  a  sufficient  pardon  for  all  that  is  passed 
already,  the  King  having,  under  his  Broad  Seal,  made 
you  admiral  of  his  fleet,  and  given  you  power  of  life 
and  death  over  the  soldiers  and  officers  you  command." 
It  must  have  been  disagreeable  for  him  now  to  declare 
the  law,.  "  that  nothing  short  of  an  express  pardon 
could  purge  the  penalties  of  treason,  and  that  Raleigh, 
being  civiliter  mortiius  ought  naturally  to  be  put  to 
death." 

The  end  of  this  great  man,  notwithstanding  his  faults, 
was  deplored  and  condemned.  Bacon  was  not  suspected 
of  prompting  it,  but  he  was  severely  censured  by  his  con- 
temporaries for  acquiescing  in  it;  and  surely,  if  he  had 
been  the  upright  and  constant  character  we  are  now  de- 
sired to  consider  him,  he  would,  as  the  head  of  the  law, 
and  superintending  the  administration  of  justice, — even 
at  the  risk  of  offending  the  King  or  the  favorite, — have 
resisted  the  outrage  of  executing  a  man  under  a  sentence 
pronounced  near  sixteen  years  before,  who,  in  the  mean 
time,  having  gained  universal  applause  by  his  literary 

1  2  St.  Tr.  37. 


70  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    7.  [1618. 

productions,  had  been  intrusted  with  supreme  power  over 
the  lives  of  others.  His  alleged  recent  offenses,  if  proved, 
could  not  have  been  legally  visited  with  capital  punish- 
ment. 

Bacon  was  engaged  in  other  juridical  proceedings  about 
this  time,  which,  though  of  less  consequence,  ought  not 
to  be  passed  over  unnoticed.  In  the  first  case  I  shall 
mention,  he  was  no  more  to  blame  than  that  he  was  not 
in  advance  of  his  age  in  the  science  of  political  economy, 
and  that  he  entertained  notions  respecting  the  use  of  the 
precious  metals  which  are  not  yet  entirely  exploded.  It 
was  found  that  certain  Dutch  merchants  had  clandes- 
tinely exported  bullion  and  .coin  from  London  to  a  large 
amount,  in  payment  of  commodities  imported,  and  a  cry 
was  raised  that  the  country  was  robbed.  To  make  certain 
that  the  alleged  delinquents  should  be  amenable  to  justice, 
the  Chancellor  issued  writs  against  them  of  "  ne  exeant 
regno,"  and  he  appointed  a  commission  to  investigate  the 
matter,  consisting  of  himself,  Sir  E.  Coke,  the  Chancellor 
of  the  Exchequer,  and  the  Lord  Chief  Justice  of  the 
King's  Bench.  On  their  advice  180  informations  were 
filed,  and  20  of  the  principal  merchants  being  tried  and 
convicted,  were  fined  to  the  amount  of  .£100,000. 

Then  came  a  strange  prosecution  in  the  Star  Chamber, 
which  seems  to  have  been  instituted  by  Buckingham,  and 
Bacon  to  get  rid  of  the  Lord  Treasurer,  the  Earl  of  Suf- 
folk. He  and  his  wife  were  accused  of  "  trafficking  with 
the  public  money," — and  being  convicted,  they  were  or- 
dered to  be  imprisoned  and  fined  .£30,000,  Sir  E.  Coke 
having  proposed  that  the  fine  should  be  ;£  100,000.  The 
ex-Chief  Justice  on  this  occasion  extorted  prais.e  from  the 
Chancellor,  who,  in  a  letter  giving  an  account  of  the  pro- 
ceeding to  the  King,  says,  "  Sir  Edward  Coke  did  his 
part — I  have  not  heard  him  do  better — and  began  with  a 
fine  of  .£100,000,  but  the  Judges  first  and  most  of  the  rest 
reduced  it."1  Buckingham  compromised  the  matter  with 
Suffolk  for  £"7,000,  and  for  £"20,000. sold  the  Treasurer's 
place  to  Lord  Chief  Justice  Montagu,  with  a  Peerage 
into  the  bargain. 

Strong  complaints  began  to  be  made  against  the  Chan- 
cellor's decisions  in  his  own  Court.  He  selected  as  a 
subject  of  prosecution  a  libel  upon  himself, — not  the  most 

1  Letter,  Nov.  13,  1619. 


1619.]  LORD      BACON.  71 

severe  then  circulated, — but  which  luckily  happened  to 
be  unfounded.  He  had  pronounced  a  decree  against 
one  Wraynham  rather  hastily,  not  corruptly, — and  an 
epistle  to  the  King,  representing  it  as  unjust  contained 
these  words:  "  He  that  judgeth  unjustly  must,  to  main- 
tain it,  speak  untruly,  and  the  height  of  authority  maketh 
man  to  presume."  The  sentence  on  the  libeler  was  the 
mildest  I  read  of  in  the  records  of  the  Star  Chamber — 
merely  "  that  the  defendant  should  be  censured."  It  may 
probably  be  accounted  for  by  the  grudge  against  the 
prosecutor  still  harbored  by  Sir  Edward  Coke,  by  whom 
it  was  proposed.1 

The  Chancellor,  on  the  prompting  of  Buckingham,  was 
himself  prosecutor  and  judge  in  the  next  case  of  import- 
ance which  came  forward.  Sir  Henry  Yelverton  had  been 
appointed  his  successor  as  Attorney  General.  "  When 
the  business  was  done,  he  went  privately  to  the  King, 
and  told  him  he  did  acknowlege  how  like  a  good  Master 
and  worthy  Prince  he  had  dealt  with  him  and  although 
there  was  never  mention,  speech,  or  expectation  of  any- 
thing to  be  had  for  his  place,  yet  out  of  his  duty  he 
would  give  him  .£4,000  ready  money.  The  King  took 
him  in  his  arms,  thanked  him,  and  commended  him  much 
,for  it,  and  told  him  he  had  need  of  it,  for  it  must  serve 
even  to  buy  him  dishes."*  Buckingham  was  chagrined 
that  no  part  of  this  donation  came  to  his  private  purse, 
and  Yelverton  was  afterwards  so  indiscreet  as  to  behave 
disrespectfully  to  the  Chancellor,  who  thus  complains  of 
him : — "  Mr.  Attorney  groweth  pretty  pert  with  -me  of 
late ;  and  I  see  well  who  they  are  that  maintain  him. 
But  be  they  flies  or  be  they  wasps,  I  neither  care  for  buzz- 
ing nor  stings."  Yelverton  now  gave  great  offense  to 
both  by  refusing  to  pass  some  illegal  patents,  and  they 
vowed  his  destruction.  The  pretext  was,  his  having  in- 
troduced into  a  charter  granted  to  the  city  of  London, 
certain  clauses  alleged  not  to  be  agreeable  to  the  King's 
warrant,  and  derogatory  to  his  honor.  For  this  supposed 
offense  the  Chancellor  ordered  an  information  to  be  filed 
against  him  in  the  Star  Chamber,  and  resolved  to  preside 

1  2  St.  Tr.  1059. — But  it  has  been  suggested  to  me  this  could  hardly  mean 
a  mere  reprimand  ;  for  "  censure,"  in  the  language  of  the  Star  Chamber,  is 
adjudge.  Thus  Piynne  was  "  censured  to  lose  his  ears,"  &c. 

*  Diary  of  Whitelock,  p.  63. 


72  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.          [1619. 

himself  at  the  trial.  There  is  a  curious  paper  preserved 
to  us  with  the  notes  he  had  made  for  his  speech  in  passing 
sentence:  "  Sorry  for  the  person,  being  a  gentleman  that 
I  lived  with  in  Gray's  Inn, — served  with  him  when  I  was 
Attorney, — joined  with  him  in  many  services, — and  one 
that  ever  gave  me  more  attributes  in  public  than  I  de- 
served,— and,  besides,  a  man  of  very  good  parts, — which, 
with  me,  is  friendship  at  first  sight, — much  more  joined 
with  so  ancient  an  acquaintance.  But,  as  Judge,  hold  the 
offense  very  great,"  &C.1 

The  following  is  Bacon's  boastful  account  to  Bucking- 
ham of  the  conclusion  of  the  trial : — "  Yesternight  we 
made  an  end  of  Sir  Henry  Yelverton's  cause.  I  have  al- 
most killed  myself  by  sitting  almost  eight  hours.  He  is 
sentenced  to  imprisonment  in  the  Tower  during  the  King's 
pleasure,  the  fine  of  £4,000,  and  discharge  of  his  place, 
by  way  of  opinion  of  the  Court, — referring  it  to  the  King's 
pleasure.  How  I  stirred  the  Court  I  leave  it  to  others  to 
speak;  but  things  passed  to  his  Majesty's  great  honor. 
I  would  not  for  anything  but  he  had  made  his  defense 
for  many  deep  parts  of  the  charge  "were  deeper  printed  by 
the  defense."  Yelverton  having  been  suspended  from  his 
office  of  Attorney  General  during  the  prosecution,  was 
now  turned  out,  and  was  farther  punished  on  the  meeting 
of  parliament  for  his  conduct  in  the  granting  of  monopo- 
lies ;  but  he  was  made  a  Judge  of  the  Common  Pleas  at 
the  commencement  of  the  next  reign.4 

Amidst  all  these  low,  groveling,  and  disgraceful  occu- 
pations, Bacon  was  indefatigably  employed  upon  his  im- 
mortal work,  the  "  NOVUM  ORGANUM,"  which  had  en- 
gaged his  thoughts  for  thirty  years,  and  which  he  had 
twelve  times  transcribed  with  his  own  hand,— as  often 
enlarging  and  amending  it.s  He  still  considered  it  de- 
fective in  itself,  and  it  was  only  a  part  of  his  "  INSTAURA- 
Tio  MAGNA,"  which  he  once  hoped  to  have  completed. 
But  "  numbering  his  days,"  he  thought  he  should  best 
consult  his  own  fame  and  the  good  of  mankind  by  now 
giving  it  to  the  world.  It  was  published  in  October,  1620, 
when  he  was  in  his  sixtieth  year,  the  preceding  long  va- 

1  Works,  vi.  258.  *  2  St.  Tr.  1141.  Works,  vi.  259. 

3  "  Ipse  reperi  in  archivis  dominationis  suae  autographa  plus  minus  duode- 
cim  ORGANI  Novr  de  anno  in  annum  elaborati,  et  ad  incudem  revocati  ;  et 
singulis  annis,  i  Iteriore  lima  subinde  politi  et  castigati  ;  donee  in  illud  tan- 
dem corpus  adoleverat,  quo  in  lucem  editum  fuit." — Rawley. 


1619.]  LORD    BACON.  73 

cation  having  been  spent  in  again  retouching  it  and  get- 
ting it  through  the  press. 

In  addition  to  the  public  Dedication  to  James,  the 
author  accompanied  the  copy  which  he  sent  to  him  with 
a  private  letter,  giving  this  beautiful  and  comprehensive 
view  of  his  undertaking  : — "  The  work,  in  what  color  so- 
ever it  may  be  set  forth,  is  no  more  but  a  new  logic  teach- 
ing to  invent  and  judge  by  induction,  as  finding  syllogism 
incompetent  for  sciences  of  nature  ;  and  thereby  to  make 
philosophy  and  sciences  both  more  true  and  more  active." 
The  compliment  which  follows  may  be  excused: — "This 
tending  to  enlarge  the  bounds  of  reason,  and  to  endow 
man's  estate  with  new  value,  was  no  improper  oblation 
to  your  Majesty,  who  of  men  is  the  greatest  master  of 
reason  and  author  of  beneficence." 

James's  many  failings  are  to  a  certain  degree  redeemed 
by  his  love  of  learning  and  respect  for  those  who  had 
gained  intellectual  distinction.  With  his  own  hand  he 
wrote  the  answer: — 

"Mv  LORD, 

"I. have  received  your  letter  and  your  book,  than  the 
which  you  could  not  have  sent  a  more  acceptable  present 
unto  me.  How  thankful  I  am  for  it,  can  not  better  be  ex- 
pressed by  me  than  by  a  firm  resolution  I  have  taken— 
first,  to  read  it  through  with  care  and  attention,  though  I 
should  steal  some  hours  from  my  sleep, — having  otherwise 
as  little  spare  time  to  read  it  as  you  had  to  write  it.  And 
then  to  use  the  liberty  of  a  true  friend  in  not  sparing  to 
ask  you  the  question  in  any  point  whereof  I  shall  stand 
in  doubt, — nam  ejus  est  explicare  cujus  est  condcre ;  as  on 
the  other  part  I  will  willingly  give  a  due  commendation 

to  such  places  as  in  my  opinion  shall  deserve  it 

And  so,  praying  God  to  give  your  work  as  good  success 
as  your  heart  can  wish  and  your  labors  deserve,  I  bid  you 
heartily  farewell. 

"  JAMES  R."  l 

Bacon  replied,  eagerly  soliciting  his  Majesty's  criticism  : 
— "  For  though  this  work  as  by  position  and  principle 
doth  disclaim  to  be  tried  by  anything  but  by  experience 
and  the  results  of  experience  in  a  true  way,  yet  the  sharp- 
ness and  profoundness  of  your  Majesty's  judgment  ought 

1  Works,  v.  535.  • 


74  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.          [1620. 

to  be  an  exception  to  this  general  rule ;  and  your  questions, 
observations,  and  admonishments  may  do  infinite  good  : 

"  '  A  strum  quo  segetes  gauderent  frugibus  et  quo 
Duceret  apricis  in  coilibus  uva  colorem  ?'  " 

Even  Buckingham,  who  was  not  without  generous  tastes 
and  feelings,  forgot  his  intrigues, — for  once  ceased  to  con- 
sider Bacon  as  the  instrument  of  his  power, — and  although 
incapable  of  fully  appreciating  the  work,  wrote  a  kind  of 
seemingly  sincere  congratulation  to  him  as  a  philosopher. 

Bacon  and  Coke  were  now  living  together  on  terms  of 
decent  courtesy,  and  frequently  met  at  the  council-table. 
A  presentation-copy  of  the  NOVUM  ORGANUM  was  there- 
fore sent  by  the  Chancellor  to  the  Ex-Chief  Justice.  This 
copy  is  still  preserved  at  Holkham,  showing,  by  the  in- 
scription upon  the  title-page  in  Sir  Edward's  handwriting, 
in  what  spirit  it  was  received  : — 

"  Edw.  C.  ex  dono  auctoris" 

"AUCTORI  CONSILIUM. 

"  Instaurare  paras  vetemm  documenta  sophorum 
Instaura  Leges  Justitiamque  prius."  ] 

This  edition  contains  the  device  of  a  ship  passing 
through  the  pillars  of  Hercules,  over  which  Sir  Edward, 
driven  by  indignation  against  his  nature  to  make  verses, 
has  written  : — 

"  It  deserves  not  to  be  read  in  schocles, 
But  to  be  freighted  in  the  ship  of  Fools" 

Notwithstanding  the  envious  snarlings  of  a  legal  pedantv 
the  work  was  received  with  the  highest  applause  by  all 
capable  of  understanding  it, —  and  raised  the  fame  of 
Bacon,  and  of  the  nation  to  which  he  belonged,  all  over 
the  civilized  world. 

Now  was  his  worldly  prosperity  at  its  height,  and  he 
seemed  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  almost  everything  that 
man  can  desire.  He  was  courted  and  flattered  by  all 
classes  of  the  community.  The  multitude,  dazzled  by 
the  splendor  of  his  reputation  as  a  statesman,  an  prator, 
a  judge,  a  fine  writer,  a  philosopher, — for  a  time  were 
blind  to  the  faults  in  his  character,  and  overlooked  the 
evil  arts  by  which  he  had  risen.  Bystanders,  who  were 
not  interested  in  the  cases  before  him  (a  large  class  com- 

1  Alluding  to  Sebastian  Brand's  famous  "  Shyp  of  Folys." 


i62i.]  LORD    BACON.  75 

pared  to  the  suffering  suitors1),  were  struck  with  the  elo- 
quence and  apparent  equity  of  his  decisions,  and  the 
murmurs  of  those  whom  he  had  wronged  were  drowned 
by  the  plaudits  of  his  admirers.  He  was  on  the  best 
terms  both  with  the  King  and  the  favorite;  and  it  was 
generally  expected  that,  like  his  father,  he  would  keep 
his  office  while  he  lived.  Foreigners  visiting  this  country 
were  more  eager  to  see  him  as  author  of  the  NOVUM 
ORGANUM  than  as  Lord  High  Chancellor. 

We  have  a  specimen  of  the  magnificent  mode  in  which 
he  lived,  from  the  description  of  the  grand  banquet  he 
gave  at  York  House  on  entering  his  6oth  year.  Ben  Jon- 
son,  who  was  present,  celebrates  "  the  fare,  the  wine,  the 
the  men;"  and  breaks  out  in  enthusiastic  praise  of  the 
illustrious  host : 

"  England's  high  Chancellor,  the  destin'd  heir, 
In  his  soft  cradle  to  his  father's  chair  ; 
Whose  even  thread  the  Fates  spin  round  and  full 
Out  of  their  choicest  and  their  whitest  wool." 

He  had  a  villa  at  Kew,  to  which  he  could  retire  for  a 
day  in  seasons  of  business;  and  his  vacations  he  spent  at 
Gorhrambury,  "  in  studies,  arts,  and  sciences,  to  which,  in 
his  own  nature,  he  was  most  inclined," — and  in  gardening, 
"  the  purest  of  human  pleasures."  Here,  at  a  cost  of 
.£10,000,  he  erected  a  private  retreat,  furnished  with  every 
intelligent  luxury, — to  which  he  repaired  when  he  wished 
to  avoid  all  visitors,  except  a  few  choice  spirits,  whom  he 
occasionally  selected  as  the  companions  of  his  retirement 
and  his  lucubrations. 

Thence,  in  January,  1621,  he  was  drawn,  not  unwillingly 
to  the  King's  Court,  at  Theobald's,  for  there  he  was  raised 
in  the  peerage  by  the  title  of  Viscount  St.  Albans,  his  patent 
being  expressed  in  the  most  flattering  language,  particularly 
celebrating  his  integrity  in  the  administration  of  justice; 
and  he  was  invested  by  the  King  with  his  new  dignity, 
Buckingham  supporting  h'is  robe  of  state,  while  his  coro- 
net was  borne  by  the  Lord  Wenworth.*  In  answer  to  a 
complimentary  address  from  the  King,  he  delivered  a 

1  Sir  Samuel  Romilly  once  observed  to  me,   "  The  number  of  suitors  in 
Chancery  is  nothing  compared  to  the  community — or  this   Court  would  long 
ago  have  been  abolished  as  a  nuisance." 

2  A  question  had  arisen  immediately  after  his  appointment  as  Lord  Keeper 
whether  an  Earl  could  be  created  without  the  investiture. — Works,  vol.  v. 
405,  474- 


76  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.          [1621. 

studied  oration,  enumerating  the  successive  favors  he  had 
received  from  the  Crown,  and  shadowing  forth  the  fresh 
services  he  was  to  render,  in  his  future  career,  as  evidence 
of  his  gratitude. 

In  little  more  than  three  months  from  this  day  he  was 
a  prisoner  in  the  Tower, — stripped  of  his  office  for  con- 
fessed corruption, — and  condemned  to  spend  the  re- 
mainder of  his  days  in  disgrace  and  penury. 

It  is  a  remarkable  circumstance,  and  affords  a  striking 
instance  of  a  really  great  man  being  very  ignorant  of  the 
state  of  public  opinion,  that  Bacon  had  strongly  recom- 
mended the  calling  of  a  parliament,  and  confidently  ex- 
pected, not  only  that  there  would  be  a  grant  of  liberal 
supplies,  but  that  no  difficulty  would  be  experienced  in 
stifling  inquiry  into  grievances,  and  in  carrying  through 
all  the  measures  of  the  government.  He  had  penned  a 
reasoned  proclamation  for  calling  parliament,  with  a  view 
to  influence  the  elections;  and  he  had  prepared  a  plan  of 
operations,  which  had  been  approved  of  by  the  King  and 
Buckingham,  for  the  conduct  of  the  session. 

On  the  3Oth  of  January,  a  day  inauspicious  to  the 
Stuarts,  the  two  houses  assembled.  James,  having  made 
a  long  speech  from  the  throne  in  his  rambling,  familiar, 
shrewd  style,1  the  Lord  Chancellor  thus  addressed  him  : 
"  May  it  please  your  Majesty,  I  am  struck  with  admira- 
tion in  respect  of  your  profound  discourses, — with  refer- 
ence of  your  royal  precepts, — and  contentment  in  a  num- 
ber of  gracious  passages  which  have  fallen  from  your  Maj- 
esty. For  myself,  I  hold  it  as  great  commendation  in  a 
Chancellor  to  be  silent  when  such  a  King  is  by,  who  can 
so  well  deliver  the  oracles  of  his  mind.  Only,  Sir,  give 
me  leave  to  give  my  advice  to  the  Upper  and  Lower 
House  briefly  in  two  words,  Nosce  teipsum.  I  would  have 
the  parliament  know  itself:  1st,  in  a  modest  carriage  to 
so  gracious  a  Sovereign  :  2ndly,  in  valuing  themselves 
thus  far  as  to  know  now  it  is  in  them,  by  their  careful 
dealing,  to  procure  an  infinite  good  to  themselves  in  sub- 
stance, and  reputation  at  home  or  abroad."2 

1  He  now  complains  that  his  eloquence  on  former  occasions  had  not  been 
properly  appreciated,  and  he  says  with  much  naivete",  "  So  it  may  be  it  pleased 
God  (seeing  some  vanity  in  me)  to  send  back  my  woids  as  wind  spit  into  my 
own  face.  So  as  I  may  truly  say,  '/  have  of  ten  piped  unto  you,  but  you  have 
not  danced  ;  I  have  often  mourned,  but  you  have  not  lamented'  " — I  1'arl. 
Hist.  1176.  2  I  Parl.  Hist.  1168. 


i62i.]  LORD     BACON.  7* 

As  soon  as  a  Speaker  had  been  chosen  and  approved,5 
the  Commons  set  to  work  in  a  manner  which  showed  that 
they  knew  their  duty,  and  were  resolved  to  fulfill  it.  They 
first  voted  an  adequate  supply,  that  there  might  be  no 
ground  for  saying  that  the  Crown  was  driven  to  uncon- 
stitutional modes  of  raising  money.  They  then  proceeded 
to  the  redress  of  grievances, — and  here  they  were  headed 
by  Sir  Edward  Coke,  become  member  for  Liskeard,  and  a 
flaming  patriot.  He  had  for  several  years  been  contented 
with  assisting  in  the  judicial  business  of  the  Privy  Council 
without  office  or  emolument.  Finding  this  rather  dull 
work, — presuming  that  the  intention  was  to  make  use  of 
his  services  without  promoting  him,  and  having  the 
sagacity  to  discover  that  the  time  had  arrived  when  he 
might  gratify  the  envy  and  malignity  with  which  he 
had  viewed  the  ascendency  of  his  rival,  he  entirely  broke 
with  the  Court,  and  he  was  gladly  hailed  as  leader  of  the 
opposition. 

He  struck  a  decisive  blow  by  moving  for  a  committee 
to  inquire  into  the  grievance  of  monopolies,  which  the 
ministers  found  they  could  not  attempt  to  resist.  A  re- 
port was  speedily  presented,  showing  the  dreadful  op- 
pression which  the  monopolies  were  producing, — and  it 
was  resolved  to  demand  a  conference  on  the  subject  with 
the  Lords.  The  message  to  demand  the  conference  was 
sent  up  by  Sir  Edward  Coke. 

It  must  have  been  curious  to  have  witnessed  the  fol- 
lowing scene  at  the  bar  of  the  House  of  Peers  on  this  oc- 
casion, when  the  two  rivals  came  into  such  close  contact. 
Gentleman  Usher  of  the  Black  Rod. — "  My  Lords,  a  mes- 
sage from  the  House  of  Commons."  Bacon. — "  Is  it  your 
Lordships'  pleasure  that  the  messengers  be  called  in? 
Call  in  the  messengers."  (The  Chancellor  leaves  the  wool- 
sack, with  the  purse  holding  the  Great  Seal  in  his  hand, 
and  marches  towards  the  bar,  where  he  sees  Sir  Edward 
Coke.  Their  eyes  encounter,  but  all  indecorous  looks 
and  gestures  are  suppressed.  Coke  makes  his  congas,  de- 
livers in  his  paper,  and  retires.)  Bacon  from  the  woolsack. 
— "The  message  from  the  Commons  by  Sir  Edward  Coke 

1  Bacon,  in  yielding  to  the  Speaker's  prayer  for  liberty  of  speech,  added 
this  caution:  "That  liberty  of  speech  turn  not  into  license,  but  be  joined 
with  that  gravity  and  discretion  as  may  taste  of  duty  and  love  to  your 
Sovereign,  reverence  to  your  own  assembly,  and  respect  to  the  matters  ye 
handle." 


78  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.  [1621. 

and  others  is  this,  that  the  Commons,  having  entered  into 
a  due  consideration  of  divers  heavy  grievances,  touching 
patents  and  monopolies,  do  desire  a  conference  with  your 
Lordships  thereupon,  leaving  the  time  and  place  and 
numbers  to  your  Lordship's  appointment."  (The  mes- 
sengers being  again  called  in),  Bacon  sitting  on  the  woolsack, 
covered. — "  I  am  desired  by  their  Lordships  to  inform  the 
Commons  that  their  Lordships  agree  to  the  conference, 
and  appoint  it  to  be  held  on  the  5th  of  March,  at  two  of 
the  clock  in  the  afternoon  in  the  Painted  Chamber,  where, 
in  respect  of  the  importance  of  the  subject,  the  whole 
House  will  attend."  Sir  Edward  Coke. — "  My  Lords,  I 
crave  liberty  to  explain  my  message  a  little  further.  The 
Commons  will  scantly  be  prepared  to  meet  your  Lord- 
ships so  soon,  and  their  wish  was,  that,  if  your  Lordships 
should  yield  to  a  conference,  they  would  prepare  the 
business,  so  as  to  give  least  interruption  to  your  Lord- 
ship's greater  affairs ;  and  when  they  are  ready,  I  will 
return  and  inform  your  Lordships  therewith."  Bacon. — - 
"  Gentlemen  of  the  House  of  Commons,  their  Lordships 
will  suspend  the  time  till  they  have  notice  that  the  Com- 
mons are  ready  for  the  conference."  ' 

Buckingham  and  the  King  were  now  fully  aware  of  the 
impending  danger.  Another  committee  of  the  House  of 
Commons  was  sitting  to  inquire  into  "  the  abuses  of 
Courts  of  Justice," — the  proceedings  of  which  were  di- 
rected by  the  indefatigable  and  vindictive  Sir  Edward 
Coke,  although,  out  of  decency,  he  had  declined  to  be  its 
chairman.  The  object  of  this  inquiry  was  known  to  be  to 
establish  certain  charges  of  bribery  and  corruption  against 
the  Lord  Chancellor,  and  to  effect  his  ruin. 

This  was  the  crisis  in  the  fate  of  the  man  whose  life  we 
shall  next  have  to  relate,  Williams;  then  Dean  of  West- 
minster, afterwards  Lord  Keeper  of  the  Great  Seal,  Bishop 
of  Lincoln,  and  Archbishop  of  York.  Hitherto  he  had 
only  been  known  to  Buckingham  as  a  divine,  having  been 
employed  by  him  to  convert  from  the  errors  of  popery 
the  Lady  Catherine  Manners,  a  great  heiress,  whom  he 
wished  to  marry, — and  to  smooth  the  difficulties  which 
stood  in  his  way  in  that  enterprise.  But  Williams  being 
noted  for  his  shrewdness  and  dexterity  in  business,  his 
advice  was  asked  in  the  present  extremity,  and  he  de- 

1  i  Pad.  Hist.  1199.  Journal  of  Lords,  18  Jac.  I. 


i62i.]  LORD    BACON.  79 

clared  that  the  storm  was  too  violent  to  be  resisted,  and 
that  Buckingham  himself  would  be  in  danger  if  some 
great  concession  were  not  speedily  made  to  public 
opinion.  He  recommended  that  Sir  Edward  Villiers, 
implicated  with  Mompesson  and  Mitchell  in  the  most 
obnoxious  monoplies,  should  be  sent  abroad  on  an  em- 
bassy ;  that  the  other  two  "  should  be  thrown  overboard 
as  wares  that  might  be  spared ;"  and  that  the  power  of 
the  Crown  should  not  be  exerted  to  screen  the  Chancellor 
from  any  charges  which  might  be  established  against  him. 
"Swim  with  the  tide,"  said  he,  "  and  you  can  not  be 
drowned."  Buckingham,  pleased  with  his  insinuating 
manner  and  plausible  advice,  immediately  carried  him  to 
the  King,  and  from  that  moment  the  Dean  of  West- 
minster directed  the  measures  of  the  Court,  although  it 
was  a  considerable  time  before  the  public,  or  even  Bacon, 
became  aware  of  his  influence. 

Sir  Edward  Villiers  was  sent  on  his  embassy.  Mom- 
pesson and  Mitchell  were  impeached,  and  in  due  time 
sentence  was  pronounced  upon  them  of  fine,  imprison- 
ment, and  perpetual  infamy. 

At  a  conference  on  this  subject  between  the  two 
Houses,  at  which  the  Lord  Chancellor  was  one  of  the 
managers  for  the  Peers,  he  took  the  opportunity, — very 
irregularly,  though  dexterously, — to  make  a  long  speech 
to  the  Commons,  vindicating  the  whole  of  his  conduct, 
which  had  recently  been  brought  in  question  before  them. 
He  might-  have  been  forewarned  of  his  approaching  fall 
by  the  proceeding  which  took  place  on  the  return  of 
the  managers  of  the  House.  The  Lord  Chamberlain 
then  complained,  "  that  the  Lord  Chancellor,  at  the  con- 
ference, had  spoken  in  his  own  defense,  not  being  allowed 
so  to  do,  the  said  conference  being  directed  and  limited 
by  this  House,  which  was  against  the  ancient  orders 
thereof,"  and  moved  "  that  an  order  may  now  be  en- 
tered to  prevent  the  like  hereafter,  and  that  the  Lord 
Chancellor  should  give  the  House  satisfaction  by  an 
acknowledgement  of  his  error  herein."  The  Lord  Chan- 
cellor had  the  mortification  to  put  the  question  upon  this 
motion,  and  to  declare  "  the  CONTENTS  have  it," — no  one 
venturing  to  dissent.  "  Whereupon  the  Lord  Chancellor 
removing  from  the  woolsack  to  his  seat  as  a  Peer,  did 

1  Hacket's  Life  of  Williams,  Part  I.  50. 


8o  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    7.  [1621. 

acknowledge  that,  contrary  to  the  orders  of  this  House, 
he  had  spoken  at  the  last  conference  more  than  he  had 
direction  from  the  House  to  do,  and  owned  that  he  had 
erred  therein."  * 

In  three  days  more  the  public  exposure  of  the  Lord 
Chancellor  began — by  the  Report  of  the  committee  on 
the  abuses  in  Courts  of  Justice  being  presented  to  the 
House.  It  expressly  charged  him  with  corruption  on  the 
complaint  of  parties  against  whom  he  had  given  judgment. 
One  Aubrey  stated,  "  that  having  a  suit  pending  in  the 
Court  of  Chancery,  and  being  worn  out  by  delays,  he  had 
been  advised  by  his  counsel  to  present  £100  to  the  Chan- 
cellor, that  his  cause  might,  by  more  than  ordinary  means, 
be  expedited,  and  that  in  consequence  he  had  delivered 
the  money  to  Sir  George  Hastings  and  Mr.  Jenkins,  of 
Gray's  Inn,  by  whom  it  was  presented  to  his  Lordship; 
but  notwithstanding  this  offering,  the  Chancellor  had  pro- 
nounced a  killing  decree  against  him."  Egerton  was  the 
other  petitioner,  who  averred  that,  "  to  procure  my  Lord's 
favor,  he  had  been  persuaded  by  Sir  George  Hastings 
and  Sir  Richard  Young  to  make  some  present  to  the 
Chancellor,  and  that  he  accordingly  delivered  to  them 
£400,  which  they  presented  to  the  Chancellor  as  a  gra- 
tuity, under  color  that  my  Lord  when  Attorney  General 
had  befriended  him — which  was  in  addition  to  a  former 
gratuity  of  a  piece  of  plate  worth  fifty  guineas — but  that, 
notwithstanding  these  presents,  the  Lord  Chancellor, 
assisted  by  Lord  Chief  Justice  Hobart,  decided  for  his 
opponent."  Various  witnesses  had  been  examined  in 
support  of  these  charges,  and  the  committee  had  passed  a 
resolution  that  they  ought  to  be  made  the  subject  of  an 
impeachment  of  the  Lord  Chancellor. 

Bacon  reckoning  on  the  support  of  the  Crown,  and 
thinking  that  the  worst  that  could  happen  would  be  a 
sudden  dissolution  of  the  parliament — at  first  had  talked 
with  scorn  and  defiance  of  these  accusations — but  he  be- 
came alarmed  by  the  increased  roar  of  public  disapproba- 
tion, and  the  diminished  courtesy  of  the  hangers-on  about 
the  Court. 

On  the  i /th  of  March  he  presided  in  the  House  of 
Lords — for  the  last  time.  He  had  a  fright  on  that  day  by 
the  spectre  that  had  so  often  crossed  his  path,  and  was 

1  Lords'  Journals,  18  Jac.  I.     I  Parl.  Hist.  1202. 


1 62 1.]  LORD    EACON.  81 

now  ever  present  to  his  imagination.  "  A  message  from 
the  Commons"  was  announced — and  the  Chancellor 
marching  down  to  the  bar  perceived  that  it  was  brought 
by  Sir  Edward  Coke.  He  suspected  that  the  message 
might  have  been  to  exhibit  articles  of  impeachment 
against  himself  for  bribery  and  corruption.  He  was  re- 
lieved when  Coke  declared  the  message  to  be,  "  that  the 
Commons,  for  the  furtherance  of  justice,  waived  an  objec- 
tion they  had  at  first  made  to  members  of  their  House 
being  sworn  at  the  bar  of  the  House  of  Lords  as  wit- 
nesses against  Mompesson  and  Mitchell."  * 

Notwithstanding  this  respite,  Bacon's  courage  now 
failed  him — he  hurried  the  adjournment  of  the  House  as 
much  as  possible,  lest  another  message  might  come  up  of 
a  more  serious  nature,  which  it  would  have  been  very 
awkward  for  him  to  have  announced  from  the  woolsack — 
and  as  soon  as  he  got  home,  he  took  to  his  bed,  pretend- 
ing a  sudden  and  serious  illness.  From  an  interview  he 
had  had  with  Buckingham  and  the  King,  he  discovered 
that  they  were  not  to  be  relied  upon,  and  he  heard  of  the 
declarations  they  were  now  making  to  gain  popularity, 
"  that"  monopolies  should  be  put  down,  and  that  guilt  in 
high  places  deserved  severer  punishment." 

At  Bacon's  own  request  a  commission  passed  the  Great 
Seal,  reciting  that,  by  reason  of  illness,  he  was  unable  to 
attend  in  the  House  of  Lords,  and  authorizing  Sir  James 
Ley,  Knight  and  Baronet,  Chief  Justice  of  the  King's 
Bench,  to  act  as  Speaker  in  his  absence.* 

On  the  iQth  of  March  the  Chief  Justice  took  his  place 
on  the  woolsack  under  this  commission,  and  immediately 
a  conference  was  -demanded  by  Sir  Robert  Phillips  and 
others,  on  the  part  of  the  Commons,  respecting  "  abuses 
in  the  Courts  of  Justice."  A  present  conference  being 
granted,  "  they  commended  the  incomparable  good  parts 
of  the  Lord  Chancellor  ;  they  magnified  the  place  he 
holds,  from  whence  bounty,  justice,  and  mercy  were  to  be 
distributed  to  the  subjects;  but  they  were  obliged  to  de- 
clare that  the  Lord  Chancellor  was  accused  of  bribery  and 

1  Coke  himself  had  long  battled  this  point  of  privilege,  contending   that 
the   members  of  the   House  of  Commons  were  quasi  Judges   in  parliament, 
and  that  Judges  were  not  to  be  sworn  in  their  own  Court. — I  Parl.  Hist.  1206. 

2  The  Chief  Justice  has  now  a  standing  commission  to  act  as  Speaker  of 
the  House  of  Lords  in  the  absence  of  the  Chancellor. 

in. — 6 


82  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.          [1621. 

corruption  in  this  his  eminent  place."  They  proceeded 
to  detail  the  particulars  and  proofs  of  the  charge. 

Next  day  Buckingham,  affecting  to  act  a  friendly  part 
to  the  Chancellor,  declared  in  the  House  of  Lords  "  that 
he  had  been  twice  to  see  him,  being  sent  to  him  by  the 
King — that  the  first  time  his  Lordship  was  very  sick  and 
heavy,  but  the  second  time  he  found  him  better,  and 
much  comforted  with  the  thought  that  the  complaint 
against  him  was  come  into  this  House,  where  he  assured 
himself  to  find  honorable  justice,  in  confidence  whereof 
his  Lordship  had  written  a  letter  to  the  House."  The 
letter  was  delivered  into  the  hands  of  the  Chief  Justice, 
and  read  by  him  from  the  woolsack : — 

"  To  the  Right  Honourable  his  very  good  Lords,  the 
Lords  Spiritual  and  Temporal  in  the  Upper  House 
of  Parliament  assembled  : 

"  My  very  good  Lords, — I  humbly  pray  -your  Lordships 
all  to  make  a  favorable  and  true  construction  of  my  ab- 
sence. It  is  no  feigning  or  fainting,  but  sickness  both  of 
my  heart  and  of  my  back,  though  joined  with  that  com- 
fort of  mind  which  persuadeth  me  that  I  am  not  far  from 
heaven,  whereof  I  feel  the  first  fruits.  And  because, 
whether  I  live  or  die,  I  would  be  glad  to  preserve  my 
honor  and  fame  so  far  as  I  am  worthy,  hearing  that  some 
complaints  of  base  bribery  are  before  your  Lordships,  my 
requests  to  your  Lordships  are : — 

"First,  That  you  will  maintain  .me  in  your  good 
opinion,  without  prejudice,  until  my  cause  be  heard. 

"  Secondly,  That  in  regard  I  have  sequestered  my  mind 
at  this  time  in  great  part  from  wordly  matters,  thinking 
of  my  account  and  answers  in  a  higher  Court,  your  Lord- 
ships will  give  me  convenient  time,  according  to  the  course 
of  other  Courts,  to  advise  with  my  counsel,  and  to  make 
my  answer;  wherein,  nevertheless,  my  counsel's  part  will 
be  the  least,  for  I  shall  not,  by  the  grace  of  God,  trick  up 
an  innocency  by  cavillations,  but  plainly  and  ingenuously 
(as  your  Lordships  know  my  manner  is)  declare  what  I 
know  or  remember. 

"  Thirdly,  That  according  to  the  course  of  justice  I  may 
be  allowed  to  except  to  the  witnesses  brought  against 
me,  and  to  move  questions  to  your  Lordships  for  their 
cross-examinations;  and  likewise  to  produce  my  own  wit- 
nesses for  the  discovery  of  the  truth. 


1 62 1.]  LORD    BACON.  83 

"And,  lastly,  That  if  there  be  anymore  petitions  of  like 
nature,  that  your  Lordships  would  be  pleased  not  to  take 
any  prejudice  or  apprehension  of  any  number  or  muster 
of  them,  especially  against  a  Judge  that  makes  2,000  orders 
and  decrees  in  a  year  (not  to  speak  of  the  courses  that 
have  been  taken  for  hunting  out  complaints  against  me), 
but  that  I  may  answer  them  according  to  the  rules  of  jus- 
tice severally  and  respectively. 

"  These  requests  I  hope  appear  to  your  Lordships  no 
other  than  just.  And  so  thinking  myself  happy  to  have 
so  noble  peers  and  reverend  prelates  to  discern  of  my 
cause  ;  and  desiring  no  privilege  of  greatness  for  subterfuge 
of  guiltiness,  but  meaning,  as  I  said,  to  deal  fairly  and 
plainly  with  your  Lordships,  and  to  put  myself  upon  your 
honors  and  favors,  I  pray  God  to  bless  your  counsels  and 
persons,  and  rest  your  Lordships'  humble  servant, 

"  FR.  ST.  ALBAN,  Cane." 

A  courteous  answer  was  returned  to  him,  "  that  it  was 
the  wish  of  the  House  that  his  Lordship  should  clear  his 
honor  from  all  the  aspersions  cast  upon  it,  and  that  they 
prayed  he  would  provide  for  his  defense." 

Trie  King  was  startled  at  these  prosecutions,  which  he 
considered  dangerous  to  prerogative,  and,  in  the  hope  of 
diverting  the  Commons  from  their  purpose  without  of- 
fending them,  he  sent  them  a  message, — "that  he  was 
very  sorry  a  person  so  much  advanced  by  him,  and  sitting 
in  so  high  a  place,  should  be  suspected  ;  that  he  can  not 
answer  foj  all  others  under  him,  though  his  care  in  the 
choice  of  Judges  had  been  great;  but  if  this  accusation 
could  be  proved,  his  Majesty  would  punish  him  to  the 
full ;  that  the  King  would,  if  it  be  thought  fitting,  here 
grant  a  commission  under  the  Great  Seal  of  England  to 
examine  all  upon  oath  that  can  speak  in  this  business." 

This  message  was  most  gratefully  welcomed  by  the 
Commons,  and  had  nearly  gained  its  object, — when  Sir 
Edward  Coke  rose  and  begged  "  they  would  take  heed  this 
commission  did  not  hinder  the  manner  of  their  parlia- 
mentary proceeding  against  a  great  public  delinquent." 
Thereupon  a  general  address  of  thanks  to  the  King  was 
voted,  and  they  resolved  to  prosecute  the  case  before  the 
Lords.1 

A  vast  number  of  fresh  charges  of  bribery  and  corrup- 

1  I  Parl.  Hist.  1223. 


84  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    7.  [1621. 

tion  now  poured  in  against  the  Chancellor,  and  the  Com- 
mons were  preparing  regular  articles  of  impeachment  on 
which  he  might  be  brought  to  trial,  when,  on  the  approach 
of  Easter,  the  two  Houses  were  adjourned  by  royal  man- 
date till  the  I7th  of  April, — in  the  hope  that  during  the 
recess  the  clamor  might  subside,  or  some  expedient  might 
be  devised  to  defeat  or  delay  the  investigation.  Before 
the  adjournment  his  Majesty,  rather  in  an  unusual  manner, 
came  to  the  House  of  Lords,  and  in  the  absence  of  the 
Commons  made  a  long  speech  in  which  he  alluded  to  the 
Chancellor's  case,  and  expressed  his  readiness  at  all  times, 
without  the  assistance  of  parliament,  to  do  justice  to  his 
subjects.  The  Lords  affected  to  be  so  much  pleased  with 
his  condescension,  that  they  made  an  order  that  ever  after 
a  sermon  should  be  preached  on  the  anniversary  of  the 
day,  and  that  in  all  future  parliaments  the  Lords  should 
on  that  day  sit  in  their  robes,  in  perpetuam  reimemoriam;  ' 
— but  nevertheless  they  saw  through  James's  kingcraft, 
and  were  resolved  to  defeat  it. 

The  state  of  Bacon's  mind  during  this  interval  is  differ- 
ently represented.  One  acquaintance  of  his  wrote  to  a 
correspondent,  "Your  good  friend  the  Lord  Chancellor 
hath  so  many  grievous  accusations  brought  against  him, 
that  his  enemies  do  pittie  him,  and  his  most  judicious 
friends  have  alreadie  given  him  forgon.  Notwithstanding, 
himself  is  merrie,  and  doubteth  not  that  he  shall  be  able 
to  calme  al  the  tempests  raysed  against  him."  Another 
describes  him  as  "  sick  in  bed  and  swoln  in  his  body,  and 
suffering  none  to  come  at  him ;  "  and  adds,  "  some  say  he 
desired  his  gentleman  not  to  take  any  notice  of  him,  but 
altogether,  to  forget  him,  and  not  hereafter  to  speak  of 
him,  or  to  remember  there  ever  was  such  a  man  in  the 
world."5  His  servants  rising  as  he  passed  through  the 
hall,  "  Sit  down,  my  friends,"  he  said  ;  "your rise  has  been 
my  fall."  When  one  of  his  friends,  to  comfort  him,  ob- 
served, "You  must  look  around  you  ;  "  he  answered,  with 
an  air  of  piety,  which  he  knew  how  to  assume  with  great 
effect,  "  I  look  above  me."  He  declared,  "  If  this  be  to  be 
a  Chancellor,  I  think,  if  the  Great  Seal  lay  upon  Houns- 
low  Heath,  nobody  would  take  it  up." 

Meantime  he  tried  to  soften  the  hearts  of  Buckingham 

1  I  Parl.  Hist.  1228.  *  See  Montagu's  Life  of  Bacon,  cccxxviii. 


i62i.]  LORD    BACON.  85 

and  the  King.  The  former  he,denominated  "his  anchor 
in  these  floods." — He  thus  addressed  the  latter : 

"  Time  hath  been  when  I  have  brought  unto  you 
1  gemitum  columbce'  from  others,  now  I  bring  it  from  myself. 
I  fly  unto  your  Majesty  with  the  wings  of  a  dove,  which, 
once  within  these  seven  days,  I  thought  would  have 
carried  me  a  higher  flight.  When  I  enter  into  myself, 
I  find  not  the  materials  of  such  a  tempest  as  is  come  upon 
me.  I  have  been  (as  your  Majesty  knoweth  best)  never 
author  of  any  immoderate  counsel,  but  always  desired  to 
have  things  carried  suavibus  modis.  I  have  been  no 
avaricious  oppressor  of  the  people.  I  have  been  no 
haughty,  or  intolerable,  or  hateful  man  in  my  conversation 
or  carriage.  I  have  inherited  no  hatred  from  my  father, 
but  am  a  good  patriot  born.  Whence  should  this  be? 
for  these  are  the  things  which  are  to  raise  dislikes  abroad. 

"  For  the  House  of  Commons,  I  began  my  credit  there, 
and  now  it  must  be  the  place  of  the  sepulture  thereof. 

"  For  the  Upper  House,  even  within  these  days, — be- 
fore these  troubles, — they  seemed  as  to  take  me  into  their 
arms,  finding  in  me  ingenuity,  which  they  took  to  be  the 
true  straight  line  of  nobleness,  without  crooks  or  angles. 

"  And  for  the  briberies  and  gifts  wherewith  I  am  charged, 
when  the  books  of  hearts  shall  be  opened,  I  hope  I  shall  not 
be  found  to  have  the  troubled  fountain  of  a  corrupt  heart 
in  a  depraved  habit  of  taking  rewards  to  pervert  justice ; 
howsoever  I  may  be  frail,  and  partake  of  the  abuses  of  the 
times. 

"  And  therefore  I  am  resolved,  when  I  come  to  my 
answer,  not  to  trick  my  innocency  (as  I  went  to  the  Lords) 
by  cavillations  or  ordinances,  but  to  speak  to  them  the 
language  that  my  heart  speaketh  to  me,  inexcusing,  ex- 
tenuating, or  ingenuous  confessing,  praying  God  to  give 
me  the  grace  to  see  the  bottom  of  my  faults,  and  that  no 
hardness  of  heart  steal  upon  me,  under  show  of  more 
neatness  of  conscience  than  is  cause." 

After  many  apologies  and  compliments,  he  concludes  by 
saying,  "I  rest  as  clay  in  your  Majesty's  gracious  hands."1 

Having  no  answer,  and  there  being  no  reaction  in  his 
favor, — before  the  Houses  met  again  he  had  a  private  in- 
terview with  the  King.  Preparatory  to  this  he  made 
some  notes,  which  are  preserved,  of  the  topics  he  was  to 

1  Works,  v.  549. 


86  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    7.          [1621. 

use :  "  The  law  of  nature  teaches  me  to  speak  in  my  own 
defense :  With  respect  to  this  charge  of  bribery,  I  am  as 
innocent  as  any  born  upon  St.  Innocent's  day:  I  never 
had  bribe  or  reward  in  my  eye  or  thought  when  pro- 
nouncing sentence  or  order.1  If,  however,  it  is  absolutely 
necessary,  the  King's  will  shall  be  obeyed.  I  am  ready 
to  make  an  oblation  of  myself  to  the  King,  in  whose  hands 
I  am  as  clay,  to  be  made  a  vessel  of  honor  or  dishonor." 
At  the  interview,  Bacon  recommended  an  immediate  dis- 
solution of  the  parliament,  but  James  advised  him  to  sub- 
mit himself  to  the  House  of  Peers,  promising  to  restore 
him  again  if  they  should  not  be  sensible  of  his  merits. 
Bacon  exclaimed,  "  I  see  my  approaching  ruin :  there  is 
no  hope  of  mercy  in  a  multitude.  When  my  enemies  are 
to  give  fire,  am  I  to  make  no  resistance,  and  is  there  to 
be  none  to  shield  me?  Those  who  strike  at  your  Chan- 
cellor will  strike  at  your  Crown.  I  am  the  first,  I  wish  I 
may  be  the  last  sacrifice." 

James  was  greatly  shaken,  and  inclined  to  dissolve  the 
parliament,  even  if  thereby  the  subsidy  voted  him  should 
be  lost.  He  was  kept  steady,  however,  by  his  new  ad- 
viser, the  Dean  of  Westminster,  who  said,  "there  is  no 
color  to  quarrel  at  this  general  assembly  of  the  kingdom 
for  tracing  delinquents  to  their  form.  If  you  break  up 
this  Parliament  while  in  pursuit  of  justice,  only  to  save 
some  cormorants  who  have  devoured  that  which  they 
must  disgorge,  you  will  pluck  up  a  sluice  which  will  over- 
whelm you  all."  a 

Accordingly,  parliament  was  again  permitted  to  assem- 
ble on  the  i /th  of  April;  and  the  members  of  the  Lower 
House  returned  keener  for  the  attack  from  their  inter- 
course with  their  constituents, — the  cry  for  justice  having 
been  raised  all  over  England.  The  Lords  vigorously 
resumed  their  inquiries  into  the  charges  against  the  Chan- 
cellor, which  were  now  reduced  into  form,  and  were 
twenty-three  in  number.  He  was  about  to  be  regularly 
put  upon  his  trial ;  but  on  the  24th  of  April,  the  Prince 
of  Wales  was  the  bearer  from  him  of  the  following  paper, 
which  Buckingham  and  the  King  had  previously  approved 

1  A  clear  "  negative  pregnant,"  admitting  that  the  bribes  had  been  re- 
ceived,  although  he  was  not  influenced  by  them  in  giving  judgment.     It 
would  puzzle  a  casuist  to  say  whether  disregard  of  the  bribe  when  received 
be  an  extenuation  or  aggravation  of  the  offense. 

2  Racket's  Life  of  Williams,  Part  i.  50. 


1 62 1.]  LORD    BACON.  87 

and  intrusted  to  the  heir  apparent  as  a  messenger,  that  it 
might  be  more  favorably  received. 

"  To  the  Right  Honorable  the  Lords  of  Parliament  in 
the  Upper  House  assembled. 

"  The  humble  submission  and  supplication  of  the  Lord 
Chancellor. 

"  It  may  please  your  Lordships, — I  shall  crave,  at  your 
Lordship's  hands,  a  benign  interpretation  of  that  which  I 
shall  now  write.  For  words  that  come  from  wasted  spirits, 
and  an  oppressed  mind,  are  more  safe  in  being  deposited 
in  a  noble  construction  than  in  being  circled  with  any  re- 
served caution. 

"This  being  moved,  and  as  I  hope  obtained  in  the 
nature  of  a  protection  to  all  that  I  shall  say,  I  shall  now 
make  into  the  rest  of  that  wherewith  I  shall,  at  this  time, 
trouble  your  Lordships,  a  very  strange  entrance.  For  in 
the  midst  of  a  state  of  as  great  affliction  as  I  think  a  mor- 
tal man  can  endure  (honor  being  above  life),  I  shall  begin 
with  the  professing  of  gladness  in  some  things." 

[He  artfully  suggests,  that  from  what  has  already  taken 
place,  it  will  be  remembered  hereafter  that  greatness  is  no 
protection  to  guiltiness,  and  that  Judges  will  fly  from  any- 
thing like  corruption.] 

"  But  to  pass  from  the  motions  of  my  heart,  whereof 
God  is  only  Judge,  to  the  merits  of  my  cause,  whereof 
your  Lordships  are  Judges,  under  God  and  his  Lieu- 
tenant,— I  understand  there  hath  been  heretofore  ex- 
pected from  me  some  justification ;  and,  therefore,  I  have 
chosen  one  only  justification,  instead  of  all  other, — out  of 
the  justifications  of  Job.  "  For,  after  the  clear  submission 
and  confession  which  I  shall  now  make  unto  your  Lord- 
ships, I  hope  I  may  say  and  justify  with  Job  in  these 
words:  I  have  not  hid  my  sin  as  did  Adam,  nor  concealed 
my  faults  in  my  bosom.  This  is  the  only  justification 
which  I  will  use. 

"  It  resteth,  therefore,  that,  without  fig-leaves,  I  do  in- 
genuously confess  and  acknowledge,  that,  having  under- 
stood the  particulars  of  the  charge,  not  formally  from  the 
House,  but  enough  to  inform  my  conscience  and  memory, 
I  find  matter  sufficient  and  full  in  both  to  move  me  to  de 
sert  the  defense,  and  to  move  your  Lordships  to  condemn 
and  censure  me.  Neither  will  I  trouble  your  Lordships 
by  singling  those  particulars  which  I  think  may  fall  off. 


88  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.          [1621. 

" '  Quid  te  exempta  juvat  spinis  de  pluribus  una.' 

"  Neither  will  I  prompt  your  Lordships  to  observe  upon 
the  proofs  where  they  come  not  home,  or  the  scruples 
touching  the  credits  of  the  witnesses;  neither  will  I  rep- 
resent unto  your  Lordships  how  far  a  defense  might,  in 
divers  things,  extenuate  the  offense,  in  respect  of  the 
time  or  manner  of  the  gift,  or  the  like  circumstances,  but 
only  leave  these  things  to  spring  out  of  your  own  noble 
thoughts  and  observations  of  the  evidence  and  examina- 
tions themselves,  and  charitably  to  wind  about  the  par- 
ticulars of  the  charge,  here  and  there,  as  God  shall  put 
into  your  mind,  and  so  submit  myself  wholly  to  your 
piety  and  grace." 

[He  then  reminds  their  Lordships,  that  they  are  not 
tied  down,  like  ordinary  Courts,  by  precedents ;  and 
points  out  to  them  how  mercy,  in  one  case,  may  do  as 
much  good  as  severity  in  another,  from  the  example  of 
Quintus  Maximus;  who,  after  being  sentenced,  was  par- 
doned for  fighting  without  orders  ;  the  same  offense  for 
which  Tit.  Manlius  was  put  to  death.  Neque  minus 
fir  mat  a  est  disciplina  militaris  periculo  Quint  i  Maximi 
quam  miser abili  supplicio  Titi  ManliiJ] 

"  But  my  case  standeth  not  there.  For  my  humble  de- 
sire is,  that  his  Majesty  would  take  the  Seal  into  his 
hands,  which  is  a  great  downfall,  and  may  serve,  I  hope, 
in  itself,  for  an  expiation  of  my  faults.  Therefore,  if 
mercy  and  mitigation  be  in  your  power,  and  do  no  way 
cross  your  ends,  why  should  I  not  hope  of  your  Lord- 
ships' favor  and  commiseration  ?" 

[Having  introduced  elaborate  compliments  to  the 
King,  the  Prince,  and  the  Peers,  reminding  them  that 
there  are  vitia  temporis,  as  well  as  vitia  hominis,  he  thus 
concludes :] 

"And  therefore,  my  humble  suit  to  your  Lordships  is, 
that  my  penitent  submission  may  be  my  sentence,  and 
the  loss  of  the  Seal  my  punishment ;  and  that  your  Lord- 
ships will  spare  any  further  sentence,  but  recommend  me 
to  his  Majesty's  grace  and  pardon  for  all  that  is  past. 
God's  holy  Spirit  be  amongst  you. 

"  Your  Lordships'  humble  servant  and  suppliant, 

"  FR.  ST.  ALBAN,  Cane." 

This  was  a  very  dexterous  move ;  for  although  the  sub- 
mission had  the  appearance  of  a  confession  to  be  followed 


1621.]  LORD    BACON.  89 

by  punishment, — as  no  specific  charges  had  been  com- 
municated to  him,  its  generalities  might  easily  after- 
wards have  been  explained  away,  and  the  Great  Seal, 
after  being  a  little  while  in  commission,  might  have  been 
restored  to  him. 

The  Lords,  though  by  no  means  disposed  to  treat  him 
with  unnecessary  harshness,  and  ever  bearing  in  mind  his 
high  qualities  which  rendered  his  prosecution  so  painful  a 
duty  to  all  concerned  in  it,1  resolved  "  that  the  Lord 
Chancellor's  submission  gave  not  satisfaction  to  their 
Lordships  ;  that  he  should  be  charged  particularly  with 
the  briberies  and  corruptions  alleged  against  him,  and 
that  he  should  make  a  particular  answer  thereunto  with 
all  convenient  expedition." 

The  formal  articles  of  charge  were  now  communicated 
to  him,  with  the  proofs  in  support  of  each.  On  the  3Oth 
of  April,  the  Lord  Chief  Justice  signified  that  he  had  re- 
ceived from  the  Lord  Chancellor  a  paper-roll  sealed  up. 
Being  opened  and  read  by  the  Clerk,  it  was  found  en- 
titled "The  Confession  and  humble  submission  of  me,  the 
Lord  Chancellor."  It  begins:  "Upon  advised  considera- 
tion-of  the  charge,  descending  into  my  conscience  and 
calling  my  memory  to  account  so  far  as  I  am  able,  I  do 
plainly  and  ingenuously  confess  that  I  am  guilty  of  cor- 
ruption, and  do  renounce  all  defense,  and  put  myself 
upon  the  grace  and  mercy  of  your  Lordships."  He  then 
goes  over  the  different  charges  articulately,  confessing  in 
every  instance  the  receipt  of  the  money,  and  valuable 
things  fro'm  the  suitors  in  his  Court,  though  with  qualifi- 
cation in  some  instances,  that  it  was  after  judgment,  or 
understood  by  him  to  be  as  new-year's  gifts,  or  for  prior 
services. 

The  confession  being  read,  it  was  resolved  "  that  certain 
Lords  do  go  unto  the  Lord  Chancellor,  and  show  him  the 
said  Confession,  and  tell  him  that  the  Lords  do  conceive  it 
to  be  an  ingenuous  and  full  confession,  and  demand  whether 
it  be  his  own  hand  that  is  subscribed  to  the  same  ?"  Nine 
temporal  and  three  spiritual  Lords  being  appointed  a 
committee  for  this  purpose,  repaired  to  York  House,  and 
were  received  by  him  in  the  hall  where  he  had  been  ac- 
customed to  sit  as  Judge.  After  mutual  salutations,  they 
with  great  delicacy  asked  him  merely  if  the  signature  to 

1  Except  Sir  Edward  Coke. 


90  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.          [1621. 

the  paper  which  they  showed  him  was  genuine?  He 
passionately  exclaimed, — "  My  Lords,  it  is  my  act,  my 
hand,  my  heart.  I  beseech  your  Lordships  to  be  merciful 
to  a  broken  reed."  Shocked  at  witnessing  the  agonies  of 
such  a  mind,  and  the  degradation  of  such  a  name,  they 
instantly  withdrew,  and  he  again  retired  to  his  chamber 
in  the  deepest  dejection. 

Still  a  difficulty  remained  in  proceeding  farther  while 
he  retained  the  Great  Seal,  for  by  the  rules  and  customs 
of  the  House  of  Lords,  a  defendant  prosecuted  before 
them  is  to  receive  sentence  on  his  knees  at  the  bar,  and 
the  Lord  Chancellor,  if  present,  must  preside  on  the  wool- 
sack and  pass  the  sentence.  This  embarrassment  was  re- 
moved on  the  first  of  May,  when  the  King,  finding  all 
further  resistance  hopeless,  sent  the  Lord  Treasurer,  the 
Duke  of  Lennox,  the  Earl  of  Pembroke,  and  the  Earl  of 
Arundel  to  demand  the  Great  Seal.1  They  found  Bacon 
confined  to  his  bed  by  illness ;  and  when  they  had  ex- 
plained the  object  of  their  mission, — hiding  his  face  with 
one  hand,  with  the  other  he  delivered  to  them  that 
bauble  for  which  "he  had  sullied  his  integrity,  had  re- 
signed his  independence,  had  violated  the  most  sacred 
obligations  of  friendship  and  gratitude,  had  flattered  the 
worthless,  had  persecuted  the  innocent,  had  tampered 
with  Judges,  had  tortured  prisoners,  and  had  wasted  on 
paltry  intrigues  all  the  powers  of  the  most  exquisitely  con- 
structed intellect  that  has  ever  been  bestowed  on  any  of 
the  children  of  men."  * 

On  the  2nd  of  May,  the  House  of  Lords  resolved  to 

1  "  Dns  Thesaurarius,  &c.,  ad  illustrissimum  Franciscum  Vicecomt.  Sanct. 
Alban'  Cancellar.     Angl.  in  Ed.  Ebor.  morbo  laborantem  et  ad  lectum  suum 
decumbemem  accesser.  ubi  posteaquam  mentem  et  propositum  Regie  majes- 
tatis  de  Magno  Sigillo  Angl.  resumendo  paucis  explicassent  Dns  Cancellarius 
dcm  sigillum,  &c.,  Dno  Thesaurario,  &c.,  omni  qua  decuit  reverencia  in  ma- 
nus  exhibuit,"  &c. — Cl.  R,  19,  Jac.  i,  which  tells  us  that  the  messengers, 
having  put  the   Seal   into  its  silk  purse,  carried  it  to  the  King  at  Whitehall, 
where  three  commissions  were  sealed  with  it  by  the  King's  order  :  I.   To   the 
Master  of  the  Rolls  and  others  to  hear  causes  in  Chancery  ;  2.  To  the  Chief 
Justice  to  preside  in  the  House  of  Lords ;  and,  3.  To   the  Lord  Treasurer 
and  others  to  seal  writs  and  patents. 

2  Macaulay's  Essays,  vol.  ii.  349.     What  a  contrast  between  Bacon's  feel- 
ings now,  and  those  with  which  he  surveyed  the  Great  Seal  when  he  carried 
it  home  to  Gray's  Inn,  and  wrote  his  first  letter  signed  "  F.  Bacon,  C.  S.  !" 
There  might  be  a  very  instructive  set  of  prints  referring  to  those  remote 
times,  entitled  "  The  Lawyer's  Progress" — the  two  most  remarkable  of  which 
would  be  his  "selling  himself  to  the  Devil;"  and  " Mephistopheles  coming 
to  enforce  the  terms  of  the  bargain." 


i62i.]  LORD    BACON.  91 

proceed  to  judgment  next  day,  "wherefore  the  gentleman 
usher  and  the  sergeant-at-arms  were  commanded  to  go 
and  summon  the  Viscount  St.  Alban  to  appear  here  in 
person  to-morrow  morning  by  nine  of  the  clock."  They 
reported  that,  having  repaired  to  York  House,  they  found 
him  sick  in  bed,  and  that  he  had  declared  he  feigned 
not  this  for  an  excuse,  for  that  if  able  he  would  willingly 
have  obeyed  the  summons,  but  that  it  was  wholly  im- 
possible for  him  to  attend.  The  Lords  readily  sustained 
the  excuse,  and  resolved  to  proceed  to  sentence  in  his 
absence.  He  was  thrown  into  great  consternation  when 
he  heard  of  this,  and  made  a  last  effort  to  obtain  the  in- 
terposition of  the  King  in  his  favor,  that  so,  "  the  cup 
might  pass  from  him."  He  thus  concludes  his  letter, 
perhaps  not  in  the  best  taste : — "  But  because  he  that 
hath  taken  bribes  is  apt  to  give  bribes,  I  will  go  further 
and  present  your  Majesty  with  a  bribe;  for  if  your  Maj- 
esty give  me  peace  and  leisure,  and  God  give  me  life,  I 
will  present  you  with  a  good  History  of  England  and  a 
better  Digest  of  your  Laws." 

The  King  could  not  interpose,  and  on  the  3rd  of  May, 
final  judgment  was  pronounced.  The  proceeding  began 
by  the  Attorney  General  reading  the  articles,  and  the 
confession.  The  question  was  then  put,  "whether  the 
Viscount  St.  Alban  was  guilty  of  the  matters  wherewith 
he  was  charged?"  and  it  was  agreed  that  he  was  guilty, 
nemine  dissentiente.  The  punishment  was  then  con- 
sidered, .and  there  being  a  majority,  by  means  of  the 
Bishops,  against  suspending  him  from  all  his  titles  of  no- 
bility during  life,  there  was  unanimity  as  to  the  rest  of  the 
sentence,  and  a  message  was  sent  to  the  Commons  "that 
they  were  ready  to  give  judgment  against  the  Lord  Vis- 
count St.  Alban  if  the  Commons  should  come  to  demand 
it."  In  the  mean  time  the  Peers  robed,  and  the  Speaker, 
soon  after  coming  to  the  bar,  "  demanded  judgment  against 
the  Lord  Chancellor  as  his  offenses  required." 

The  Lord  Chief  Justice  declared  the  sentence  to  be, 
"  i.  That  the  Lord  Viscount  St.  Alban  should  pay  a  fine 
of  ^"40,000 ;  2.  That  he  should  be  imprisoned  in  the 
Tower  during  the  King's  pleasure;  3.  That  he  should  be 
for  ever  incapable  of  holding  any  public  office,  place,  or 
employment ;  4.  That  he  should  never  sit  in  parliament, 
nor  come  within  the  verge  of  the  Court."  Thus  was  de- 


92  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    7.  [1621. 

servedly  fixed  the  ineffaceable  brand  of  public  infamy 
upon  the  character  of  this  most  extraordinary  man. 

Although  there  were  none  bold  or  weak  enough  to  de- 
fend these  transactions  in  the  times  when  they  could  be 
best  examined  and  appreciated,  we  are  told  by  some  of 
his  amiable  admirers  in  the  nineteenth  century,  that  he 
was  made  a  sacrifice  to  the  crimes  of  others,  and  that  he 
was  free  from  all  legal  and  moral  blame.  While  I  can 
easily  forgive  such  well-meant  efforts  produced  by  a 
sincere  admiration  of  genius,  I  can  not  but  lament  them, — 
and  the  slightest  attention  to  fact  must  show  them  to  be 
futile. 

It  is  affirmed  that  there  is  an  undisclosed  mystery  in 
the  course  which  Bacon  adopted  of  making  no  defense. 
But  he  pleaded  guilty  for  this  plain  reason,  that  he  had 
no  defense  to  make.  Whoever  will  submit  to  the  trouble 
of  comparing  the  charges  and  the  evidence,  will  see  that 
they  are  all  fully  substantiated.1  Instead  of  questioning 
the  veracity  of  the  witnesses,  he  circumstantially  admits 
their  statements;  and  the  qualified  denials  to  which  he 
at  first  resorted,  when  accurately  examined,  will  be  found 
quite  consistent  with  his  final  confession.  He  knew  that 
he  had  no  contradictory  evidence  to  offer,  and  further  in- 
vestigation would  only  have  made  his  delinquency  more 
aggravated  and  more  notorious.  We  must  believe  then  that 
repeatedly  and  systematically  he  received  money  and 
articles  of  value  from  the  parties  in  causes  depending  be- 
fore him,  which  he  was  aware  they  presented  to  him  with  a 
view  to  influence  his  judgment  in  their  favor.  I  presume 
it  is  not  disputed  that  this  in  point  of  law  amounts  to 
judicial  bribery,  subjecting  the  Judge  to  be  prosecuted 

1  It  may  be  said  that  his  decree  in  Egerton  v.  Egerton  was  confirmed  by 
Lord  Coventry,  but  this  was  on  the  express  ground  that  both  parties  had 
acquiesced  in  the  decree  ;  and  it  was  then  found  as  a  fact,  that  "  the  matter 
alleged  in  the  parliament  against  the  said  Lord  Viscount  St.  Alban's,  that  he 
the  said  Viscount  St.  Alban's  had  received  from  the  said  Edward  Egerton 
(plaintiff),  and  after  from  the  said  Sir  Rowland  Egerton  (defendant),  several 
sums  of  money  before  making  the  said  decree,  appeareth  to  be  true." — Reg. 
Lib.  19  Nov.  1627.  3  Car.  I. — Lord  Hale  accounts  for  the  introduction  of 
appeals  to  the  House  of  Lords  in  equity  cases  from  the  notorious  misconduct 
of  Bacon  as  a  judge :  "  The  Lord  Verulam  being  Chancellor,  made  many  de- 
crees upon  most  gross  bribery  and  corruption,  for  which  he  was  deepiy  cen- 
sured in  the  parliament  of  18  Jac.  And  this  gave  such  a  discredit  and  brand 
to  the  decrees  thus  obtained,  that  they  were  easily  set  aside ;  and  made  a  way 
in  the  parliament  of  3  Car.  for  the  like  attempts  against  decrees  made  by 
other  Chancellors." — Hale's  Jurisdictions,  ch.  xxxiii. 


i62i.]  LORD     BACON.  93 

fora  high  misdemeanor;  and  the  only  question  that  can 
be  made  is,  whether  it  implies  moral  turpitude? 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  men  are  to  be  judged  by 
the  standard  of  their  own  age.  It  would  be  very  unjust 
to  blame  persons  who  were  engaged  in  the  sixteenth 
century  in  burning  witches  or  heretics,  as  if  these  acts  of 
faith  had  occurred  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Victoria :  and 
if  it  can  be  shown  that  judicial  bribery  was  considered 
an  innocent  practice  in  Bacon's  time,  he  is  to  be  pitied, 
and  not  condemned.  But  the  House  of  Commons  who 
prosecuted  him,  the  House  of  Lords  who  tried  him,  and 
the  public  who  ratified  the  sentence,  with  one  voice  pro- 
nounced the  practice  most  culpable  and  disgraceful.  He 
had  no  private  enemies;  he  had  not,  like  Strafford,  in  the 
next  age,  strong  party  prejudices  to  encounter;  he  was  a 
favorite  at  Court,  and  popular  with  the  nation,  who  were 
pleased  with  the  flowing  courtesy  of  his  manners,  and 
proud  of  his  literary  glory.  Yet  there  was  a  national 
cry  for  his  punishment,  and  no  solitary  individual  stood 
forward  to  vindicate  his  innocence,  or  to  palliate  the 
enormity  of  his  guilt.  Look  back  to  the  time  when  similar 
charges  were  unjustly  brought  against  the  virtuous  Sir 
Thomas  More.  He  demonstrated  that  they  were  all  un- 
founded in  fact,  but  he  allowed  that  he  might  have  been 
properly  punished  if  they  could  have  been  established  by 
evidence. 

As  a  proof  of  the  public  feeling  upon  the  subject,  it 
might  be  enough  to  give  an  extract  from  an  energetic 
sermon  of  Hugh  Latimer,  who  continued  to  be  much  read 
in  the  reign  of  James,  and  who,  preaching  against  bribery, 
says,  "  I  am  sure  this  is  sacala  inferni,  the  right  way 
to  hell,  to  be  covetous,  to  take  bribes,  and  pervert  justice. 
If  a  Judge  should  ask  me  the  way  to  hell,  I  would  show 
him  this  way.  First,  let  him  be  a  covetous  man  ;  let  his 
heart  be  poisoned  with  covetousness.  Then  let  him  go  a 
little  farther,  and  take  bribes;  and,  lastly,  pervert  judg- 
ment. Lo,  there  is  the  mother,  and  the  daughter,  and  the 
daughter's  daughter.  Avarice  is  the  mother;  she  brings 
forth  bribe-taking,  and  bribe-taking  perverting  of  judg- 
ment. There  lacks  a  fourth  thing  to  make  up  the  mess, 
which,  so  help  me  God,  if  I  were  a  Judge,  should  be 
hangiun  tuum,  a  Tyburn  tippet  to  take  with  him  ;  and  it 
were  the  Judge  of  the  King's  Bench,  my  Lord  Chief  Jus- 


94  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.  [1621. 

tice  of  England,  yea,  an  it  were  my  Lord  Chancellor  him- 
self, to  Tyburn  with  him  !  He  that  took  the  silver  basin 
and  ewer  for  a  bribe,  thinketh  that  it  will  never  come  out. 
But  he  may  now  know  that  I  know  it.  Oh,  briber  and 
bribery  !  He  was  never  a  good  man  that  will  so  take 
bribes.  It  will  never  be  merry  in  England  till  we  have 
the  skins  of  such." 

•But  from  his  own  mouth  let  us  judge  him.  Sic  cogitavit 
Franciscus  de  Verulamio  :  "  For  corruption  ;  do  not  only 
bind  thine  own  hands  or  thy  servant's  hands  from  taking, 
but  bind  the  hands  of  suitors  also  from  offering.  For  in- 
tegrity used  doth  the  one;  but  integrity  professed,  and 
with  a  manifest  detestation  of  bribery,  doth  the  other : 
and  avoid  not  only  the  fault,  but  the  suspicion." 

The  crime  of  judicial  bribery  had  been  practiced  like 
perjury  and  theft,  but  it  was  evidently  held  in  abhorrence  ; 
— and  there  never  has  been  a  period  in  our  history,  when, 
the  suitors  in  a  court  of  justice  and  the  Judge  being  the 
parties  spoken  of,  an  historian  could  have  said,  "  Cor- 
rumpere  et  corrumpi  seculum  vocatur" 

Bacon,  doubtless,  sometimes  decided  against  those  who 
had  bribed  him  :  but  this  was  inevitable  where,  as  occa- 
sionally happened,  he  had  received  bribes  from  both  sides, 
or  where  the  bribing  party  was  flagrantly  in  the  wrong,  or 
a  common-law  Judge  had  been  called  in  to  assist,  or 
where,  from  the  long  list  of  bribes,  they  could  not  be  all 
borne  in  recollection  at  the  moment  when  the  decision 
was  to  be  pronounced.  We  are  told,  indeed,  that  the 
offense  could  not  by  possibility  be  committed  by  him,  on 
account  of  the  purity  of  his  character;  but  ought  we  not 
rather  to  judge  of  his  character  from  his  actions,  than  of 
his  actions  from  his  character?  Evidence  of  "  habit  and 
repute,"  I  fear,  would  not  be  in  favor  of  this  defendant. 
Notwithstanding  his  gigantic  intellect,  his  moral  percep- 
tions were  blunt,  and  he  was  ever  ready  to  yield  to  the 
temptation  of  present  interest.  When  he  received  the 
Great  Seal  he  was  still  harassed  by  debts  which  he  had 
imprudently  contracted,  and,  instead  of  then  trying  to 
discharge  them,  his  love  of  splendor  involved  him  in  in- 
creased difficulties.  His  secretaries  and  servants  found  a 
ready  resource  in  the  offers  made  by  the  suitors,  and  when 
it  was  once  understood  that  money  was  available, — till  the 
1  Essay,  "  Of  Great  Place." 


i62i.]  LORD    BACON.  95 

catastrophe  occurred,  the  system  was  carried  to  such  a 
pitch  that  even  eminent  counsel,  at  their  consultations, 
recommended  a  bribe  to  the  Chancellor.1  His  confession 
ought  to  be  received  as  sincere,  even  out  of  regard  to  his 
reputation  ;  for,  although  the  taking  of  bribes  by  a  Judge 
be  bad,  there  would  be  still  greater  infamy  in  a  man  ac- 
knowledging himself  to  be  guilty  of  a  series  of  disgraceful 
offenses  which  he  had  never  committed,  merely  to  humor 
the  caprice  of  a  King  or  a  minister.  But  it  is  absurd  to 
suppose  that  James  and  Buckingham  would  not  cordially 
have  supported  him  if  he  could  have  been  successfully  de- 
fended ; — for,  setting  aside  friendship  and  personal  re- 
gard, which,  in  courts,  are  not  much  to  be  calculated 
upon, — they  had  no  object  whatever  to  gain  by  his  ruin, 
— and  it  would  have  been  most  desirable  in  their  eyes,  if 
possible,  to  have  repulsed  the  first  assault  of  the  Commons 
on  a  great  officer  of  the  Crown,  and  to  have  prevented 
a  precedent  which  they  distinctly  foresaw  would  be 
dangerous  to  the  royal  prerogative, — which  was  soon  ac- 
tually directed  against  Buckingham  himself,  though  in- 
effectually,— which  was  successfully  pursued  in  the  im- 
peachment of  Strafford, — and  which  materially  assisted  in 
the  ultimate  ruin  of  the  Stuart  dynasty. 

I  have  thought  it  becoming  to  make  these  observations 
in  vindication  of  the  great  principles  of  right  and' justice. 
But  I  now  have  a  more  pleasing  task, — to  record  the  com- 
posure, the  industry,  the  energy  displayed  by  Bacon  after 
his  fall,  and  the  benefits  he  continued  to  confer  by  his 
philosophical  and  literary  labors  on  his  country, — though 
I  must  again  be  pained  by  pointing  out  instances  of  weak- 
ness and  meanness  by  which  he  still  tarnished  his  fame. 


CHAPTER  LVI. 

CONCLUSION  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  LORD  BACON. 

F  Bacon's  illness  had  been  feigned  when  proceedings 
were  pending  against  him, — after  his  sentence  it  was 
real  and  alarming.     For  some  time  he  could  not  have 
been  removed  from  York  House  without  hazard  of  his 
1  See  Aubrey's  case  in  the  impeachment.     2  St.  Tr.  1101. 


I 


96  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I,  [1621. 

life.  But  the  first  burst  of  mental  agony  having  expended 
itself,  he  recovered  his  composure,  and  his  health  im- 
proved. There  was  a  disposition,  creditable  to  all  parties, 
to  show  him  the  utmost  consideration  and  forbearance 
consistent  with  the  substantial  interests  of  justice.  Still 
the  sentence  of  the  House  of  Peers  could  not  be  treated 
as  a  nullity,  although  it  might  be  mitigated  by  the  prerog- 
ative of  mercy  in  the  Crown. 

On  the  last  day  of  May  he  was  carried  a  prisoner  to  the 
Tower.  To  save  him  the  humiliation  of  marching  through 
the  Strand  and  the  principal  streets  of  the  city  in  custody 
of  tipstaves, — a  procession  contrasting  sadly  with  that 
which  he  headed  when  he  proudly  rode  from  Gray's  Inn, 
attended  by  the  nobility  and  Judges  to  be  installed  as 
Lord  Keeper  in  Westminster  Hall, — a  barge  was  privately 
ordered  to  the  stairs  of  York  House,  and,  the  tide  suiting 
early  in  the  morning  so  that  London  Bridge  might  be 
conveniently  shot,  he  was  quietly  conducted  by  the  Sheriff 
of  Middlesex  to  the  Traitors'  Gate,  and  there,  with  the 
warrant  for  his  imprisonment,  delivered  to  the  Lieutenant 
of  the  Tower.  A  comfortable  apartment  had  been  pre- 
pared for  him  ;  but  he  was  overcome  by  the  sense  of  his 
disgrace.  He  might  have  had  some  compunctious  visit- 
ings  when  he  recognized  the  scene  of  Peacham's  tortures, 
and  we  certainly  know  that  he  could  not  bear  the  thought 
of  spending  even  a  single  night  near  those  cells — 

"  With  many  a  foul  and  midnight  murder  fed." 

He  instantly  sat  down  and  wrote  the  following  letter  to 
Buckingham  : 

"  Good  my  Lord, — Procure  the  warrant  for  my  dis- 
charge this  day.  Death,  I  thank  God,  is  so  far  from  being 
unwelcome  to  me,  as  I  have  called  for  it  (as  Christian 
resolution  would  permit)  any  time  these  two  months.  But 
to  die  before  the  time  of  his  Majesty's  grace,  and  in  this 
disgraceful  place,  is  even  the  worst  that  could  be  ;  and 
when  I  am  dead,  he  is  gone  that  was  always  in  one  tenor 
a  true  and  perfect  servant  to  his  Master,  and  one  that  was 
never  author  of  any  immoderate,  no,  nor  unsafe,  no  (I  will 
say  it),  nor  unfortunate  counsel,  and  one  that  no  tempta- 
tion could  ever  make  other  than  a  trusty,  and  honest,  and 
Christ-loving  friend  to  your  Lordship  ;  and  (howsoever  I 
acknowledge  the  sentence  just,  and  for  reformation  sake 


1 62 1.]  LORD    BACON.  97 

fit)  the  justest  Chancellor  that  hath  been  in  the  five  changes 
since  Sir  Nicholas  Bacon's  time.1  God  bless  and  prosper 
your  Lordship,  whatsoever  becomes  of  me. 

"  Your  Lordship's  true  friend,  living  and  dying, 

"  FRANCIS  ST.  ALBAN. 

"  Tower,  jist  May,  1621" 

At  the  same  time  he  wrote  a  letter  to  the  King  which 
is  not  preserved,  but  which  we  may  believe  was  very 
touching,  from  his  own  representation,  that  it  was  "  de 
profundis."  . 

Prince  Charles,  in  a  manner  for  which  he  has  not  been 
sufficiently  praised,  hearing  of  the  deplorable  condition  of 
the  prostrate  Ex-Chancellor,  took  a  more  lively  interest 
in  procuring  his  liberation  than  older  councillors,  who 
were  afraid  of  giving  offense  to  the  parliament.  Nothing 
effectual  could  be  done  that  day;  but  on  the  1st  of  June, 
a  warrant  under  the  sign-manual  was  made  out  for  the 
noble  prisoner's  discharge.  It  was  arranged  that  Sir  John 
Vaughan,  who  held  an  office  in  the  Prince's  household, 
and  lived  in  a  beautiful  villa  at  Parson's  Green,  should 
receive  him,  and  that  he  should  continue  in  retirement 
there  till  parliament  was  prorogued.4  The  very  same  day 
he  returned  his  warmest  thanks  to  the  Prince: — "lam 
much  beholden  to  your  Highness's  worthy  servant,  Sir 
John  Vaughan,  the  sweet  air  and  loving  usage  of  whose 
house  hath  already  much  revived  my  languishing  spirits. 
I  beseech  your  Highness  thank  him  for  me.  God  ever 
preserve  and  prosper  your  Highness."  : 

The  buoyancy  of  his  spirit  immediately  returned,  and 
in  three  days  after  he  thus  writes  to  Buckingham.  "  I 
heartily  thank  you  for  getting  me  out  of  prison;  and  now 
my  body  is  out,  my  mind  nevertheless  will  be  still  in 
prison,  till  I  may  be  on  my  feet  to  do  his  Majesty  and 
your  Lordship  faithful  service.  Wherein  your  Lordship, 
by  the  grace  of  God,  shall  find  that  my  adversity  hath 
neither  spent  nor  pent  my  spirits."1 

But  his  creditors,  finding  out  where  he  was,  became 
very  troublesome  to  him.  He  wished  to  have  been  al- 

1  He  tries  to  delude  himself  into  some  sort  of  self-complacency  from  the 
thought  that  his  decrees  were  sound  in  spite  of  all  the  bribes  he  had  ac- 
cepted, and  that  he  sold  justice,  not  injustice. 

j  Camden  says,  "  Ex-cancellarius  in  arcem  traditur ;  post  biduum  delibe- 
ratus  ;"  but  he  must  reckon  time  according  to  the  manner  of  the  Jews. 

3  Works,  v.  552.  *  Works,  v.  554. 

III.— 7 


98  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.          [1621. 

lowed  to  return  to  York  House,  and  to  remain  there 
till  he  had  made  some  settlement  of  his  affairs ;  and  he 
sent  his  faithful  secretary,  Meautys,  who  served  him  in 
his  adversity,  with  fresh  zeal,  to  obtain  this  favor;  but, 
although  the  Prince  joined  in  the  solicitations,  it  was  re- 
fused— on  the  ground  that  he  had  been  condemned  "  not 
to  come  within  the  verge  of  the  Court."  He  was  ordered 
immediately  to  take  up  his  residence  at  Gorhambury,  and 
not  to  move  elsewhere  till  his  Majesty's  pleasure  should 
be  further  notified  to  him. 

Thither  he  accordingly  repaired  ;  but  the  place  had  a 
very  different  aspect  to  him  from  what  it  had  presented 
when  accompanied  by  the  great  and  the  witty,  he  re- 
treated to  its  shades  after  the  splendid  fatigues  of  office. 
He  found  this  solitude, — without  cheering  retrospect  or 
anticipation, — most  painful, — and  he  prepared  a  petition 
to  the  House  of  Lords,  that  he  might  be  released  from  it. 
To  move  their  compassion  he  says, — "  I  am  old,  weak, 
ruined,  in  want,  a  very  subject  of  pity.  My  only  suit  to 
your  Lordships  is  to  show  me  your  noble  favor  towards 
the  release  of  my  confinement — to  me,  I  protest,  worse 
than  the  Tower.  There  I  could  have  company,  physicians, 
conference  with  my  creditors  and  friends  about  my  debts, 
and  the  necessities  of  my  estate,  helps  for  my  studies  and 
the  writings  I  have  in  hand.  Here  I  live  upon  the  sword 
point  of  a  sharp  air,  endangered  if  I  go  abroad,  dulled  if 
I  stay  within,  solitary  and  comfortless,  without  company, 
banished  from  all  opportunities  to  treat  with  any  to  do 
myself  good  and  to  help  out  any  wrecks ;  and  that  which 
is  one  of  my  greatest  griefs,  my  wife,  that  hath  been  no 
partaker  of  my  offending,  must  be  partaker  of  this  misery 
of  my  restraint."  After  imploring  them  to  intercede  for 
him,  he  thus  concludes : — "  Herein  your  Lordships  shall 
do  a  work  of  charity  and  nobility;  you  shall  do  me  good  ; 
you  shall  do  my  creditors  good,  and  it  may  be  you  shall 
do  posterity  good,  if,  out  of  the  carcass  of  dead  and  rotten 
greatness,  as  out  of  Samson's  lion,  there  may  be  honey 
gathered  for  the  use  of  future  times."  But  the  public  in- 
dignation had  not  yet  sufficiently  subsided  to  permit  his 
restoration  to  society,  and  he  was  obliged  to  shut  himself 
up  at  Gorhambury  till  the  spring  of  the  following  year.1 

For  some  time  he  was  most  irksomely  occupied  with 

1  Buckingham,  in  the  King's  name,  sent  him  a  refusal  to  reside  in  London 


i62i.]  LORD    BACON.  99 

his  pecuniary  accounts  ;  and  he  found  it  difficult  to  pro- 
vide for  the  day  that  was  passing  over  him.  To  Bucking- 
ham he  writes, — "  I  have  lived  hitherto  upon  the  scraps 
of  my  former  fortune;  and  I  shall  not  be  able  to  hold  out 
longer."  To  the  King, — "  The  honors  which  your  Majesty 
hath  done  me  have  put  me  above  the  means  to  get  my 
living,  and  the  misery  I  have  fallen  into  hath  put  me  be- 
low the  means  to  subsist  as  I  am." 

These  representations  produced  such  an  impression 
that  an  arrangement  was  made,  which,  with  common 
prudence,  might  have  enabled  him  to  live  in  comfort 
during  the  rest  of  his  days.  The  fine  of  ,£40,000  was  in 
truth  remitted  ;  but,  to  protect  his  property  from  his  more 
importunate  creditors,  it  was  assigned  to  trustees  for  his 
benefit.  A  pension  was  granted  to  him  of  £1,200  a  year: 
he  drew  £600  from  the  Alienation  Office,  and  the  rents 
of  his  estate  amounted  to  a  further  sum  of  £700  a  year, 
making  altogether  an  income  equal,  probably,  to  that  of 
many  of  the  hereditary  nobility. 

The  nation  would  not  yet  have  endured  an  entire  re- 
mission of  his  sentence,  whereby  he  would  have  been  en- 
titled to  sit  in  parliament,  and  to  hold  office  under  the 
Crown;  but  the  King  signed  a  warrant  for  a  qualified 
pardon  to  be  made  out  for  him.  This  was  opposed  by 
the  new  Lord  Keeper,  who  began  to  be  alarmed  lest  his 
predecessor  might  ere  long  be  his  successor,  and  wrote 
him  a  letter,  proposing  to  suspend  the  sealing  of  the 
pardon  till  after  the  close  of  the  ensuing  session  of  parlia- 
ment. Williams,  at  the  same  time,  strongly  remonstrated 
with  Buckingham  against  it — suggesting  that  the  two 
Houses  would  consider  themselves  mocked  and  derided 
by  such  a  proceeding.  He  likewise  attempted  to  do 
Bacon  a  permanent  injury,  by  representing  that  he  had 
been  guilty  of  a  gross  fraud  in  the  manner  in  which  the 
fine  had  been  kept  alive  and  assigned  for  his  benefit.' 

This  malicious  attempt  was  defeated ;  a  peremptory  order 

— "  which  being  but  a  small  advantage  to  you,  would  be  a  great  and  general 
distaste,  as  you  can  not  but  easily  conceive,  to  the  whole  state." 

1  "  The  pardoning  of  his  fine  is  much  spoken  against,  not  for  the  matter 
(for  no  man  objects  to  that),  but  for  the  manner,  which  is  full  of  knavery, 
and  a  wicked  precedent.  For  by  this  assignation  of  his  fine  he  is  protected 
from  all  his  creditors,  which  I  dare  say  was  neither  his  Majesty's  nor  your 
lordship's  meaning.  His  lordship  was  too  cunning  for  me.  He  passed  his 
fine  (whereby  he  hath  deceived  his  creditors)  ten  days  before  he  presented  his 
pardon  to  the  seal." —  Williams  to  Buckingham.  , 


ioo  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.          [1622. 

from  the  King  came  to  speed  the  pardon,  and  on  the  i/th 
of  October,  it  passed  the  Great  Seal.  Williams's  fears 
were  very  natural ;  for  Bacon  certainly  had  now  hopes  of 
recovering  his  ascendency.  When  he  wrote  to  the  King 
— counting  a  little  upon  royal  ignorance — with  this  view 
he  did  not  scruple  slightly  to  pervert  history,  that  he 
might  quote  parallel  cases  of  reintegration  :  "  Demosthenes 
was  banished  for  bribery  of  the  highest  nature,  yet  was  re- 
called with  honor.  Marcus  Lucius  was  condemned  for  ex- 
actions, yet  afterwards  made  consul  and  censor.  Seneca 
was  banished  for  divers  corruptions,  yet  was  afterwards 
restored,  and  an  instrument  in  that  memorable  Quin- 
quennium Neronis" l 

Although  he  still  cast  a  longing,  lingering  look  behind 
at  the  splendors  of  office,  and  the  blandishments  of 
power,  he  now  magnanimously  and  vigorously  resumed 
his  literary  labors,  inspired  by  the  nobler  ambition  of  ex- 
tending the  boundaries  of  human  knowledge,  and  enlarg- 
ing the  stores  of  material  and  intellectual  enjoyment. 

Great  expectation  was  excited,  both  at  home  and  on 
the  Continent,  by  the  announcement  that  he  was  en- 
gaged upon  an  historical  work,  "  The  Life  and  Reign  of 
Henry  VII." s  He  finished  it  at  Gorhambury,  and  was 
allowed  to  come  to  London  to  superintend  the  printing 
of  it  in  the  beginning  of  1622.  It  was  dedicated  to  the 
Prince  as  a  mark  of  gratitude  for  the  generous  interest 
Charles  had  taken  in  his  misfortunes.  He  sent  a  copy  to 
the  Queen  of  Bohemia,  with  a  letter  strongly  showing  the 
feelings  of  a  disgraced  minister;  "  Time  was,  I  had  honor 
without  leisure ;  and  now  I  have  leisure  without  honor." 

Of  all  his  works  this  gave  the  least  satisfaction  to  the 
public ;  and  after  recently  again  perusing  it,  I  must  con- 
fess that  it  is  hardly  equal  to  Sir  Thomas  More's  History 
of  Richard  III.,  or  to  Camden's  of  Queen  Elizabeth, — 
leaving  the  reproach  upon  our  literature  of  being  lament- 
ably deficient  in  historical  composition  till  the  days  of 
Hume,  Robertson,  and  Gibbon.  Some  have  accounted 
for  Bacon's  failure  by  supposing  a  decline  in  his  faculties  ; 

1  Works,  v.  559. 

-  A  learned  Italian,  writing  to  the  Earl  of  Devonshire,  says,  "he  sTiould 
impatiently  look  for  the  promised  history  of  Lord  Chancellor  Bacon,  as  a 
thing  that  would  be  singularly  perfect,  as  the  character  of  Henry  VII.  would 
exercise  the  talent  of  his  divine  understanding." — Rawley's  Life  of  Bacon. 


i622.]  LORD    BACON.  101 

but  he  afterwards  showed  that  they  remained  in  their 
pristine  vigor  to  the  very  close  of  4us, career.  /Ttie  true 
solution  probably  is,  that  he  undertook  the  subject  to 
please  the  King,  with  a  viewe'of  domg  fyo/uir  .io,  t^e  an- 
cestor of  the  reigning  family, "who  had  uniced'the  Roses 
by  his  own  marriage,  and  had  united  the  kingdoms  by  the 
marriage  of  his  daughter.  The  manuscript  was,  from  time 
to  time,  submitted  to  James,  and  he  condescended  to  cor- 
rect it.  Bacon  was  therefore  obliged  by  anticipation  to 
consider  what  would  be  agreeable  to  the  royal  censor,  and 
could  neither  use  much  freedom  with  the  character  of  his 
hero,  nor  introduce  any  reflections  inconsistent  with  the 
maxims  of  government  now  inculcated  from  the  throne.1 
He  gives  us,  therefore,  a  tame,  chronological  narrative, 
filled  up  with  proclamations  and  long  speeches,  descend- 
ing to  such  minute  facts  as  a  call  of  sergeants,  and  though 
interspersed  with  some  passages  of  deep  thought,  by  no 
means  abounding  in  the  delineations  of  men  and  manners 
which  might  have  been  expected  from  so  great  an  artist." 

This  task  being  performed,  he  returned  to  philosophy, 
and  was  "  himself  again."  It  is  most  consolatory  to  think 
of  the  intervals  of  pleasure  and  contentment  which  he 
now  enjoyed.  He  was  compared  to  a  mariner,  who, 
being  wrecked  on  an  island,  with  a  rocky  and  savage 
shore,  on  going  into  the  interior  finds  it  covered  with 
beautiful  verdure,  watered  with  clear  streams,  and  abound- 
ing with  all  sorts  of  delicious  fruits. 

In  the- following  year  he  gave  to  the  world  his  cele- 
brated treatise,  "  De  Augmentis  Scientiarum,"  which  not 
only  further  raised  his  reputation  among  his  countrymen, 
but  was  immediately  republished  on  the  Continent,  and 
translated  into  French  and  Italian.  His  "  Advancement 
of  Learning"  was  the  basis  of  this  work  ;  but  he  recast  it, 
and  enriched  and  improved  it  to  such  a  degree,  that  he 
again  made  a  sensation  among  the  learned,  as  if  a  new 
prodigy  had  suddenly  appeared  in  the  world. 

He  soon  followed  this  up  with  his"  Historia  Vitse  et 
Mortis," — with  several  of  his  minor  publications, — and 
with  another  edition  of  his  Essays,  adding  several  new 

1  His  letters,  accompanying  the  copies  he  sent  to  the  King,  Buckingham, 
and  the  Lord  Keeper,  are  still  preserved ;  but  they  contain  nothing  beyond 
commonplace  compliments. 

*  James  even  made  him  expunge  a  legal  axiom, "  that  on  the  reversal  of  an 
attainder,  the  party  attained  is  restored  to  all  his  rights." 


102  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.          [1622 

ones,  which  gave  striking  proof  of  his  incessant  industry 
and  tHe*  fertility.  af;li3s;:genius.  As  far  as  his  literary  fame 
is  concerned,  his  political  misfortunes  are  not  to  be  re- 
grettedi  /Jfyloi?e«  'then  ;any  man  who  ever  lived  he  could 
mix' refnied  speculation "v/ith  groveling  occupations;  but 
if  he  had  continued  to  preside  at  the  Council  Board,  in 
the  Star  Chamber,  in  the  Court  of  Chancery,  and  on  the 
Woolsack,  till  carried  off  by  disease,  we  should  have  had 
but  a  small  portion  of  those  lucubrations  which  illustrated 
the  five  last  years  of  his  life.  In  his  happier  mood,  no  one 
could  make  a  juster  estimate  of  the  superiority,  both  for 
present  enjoyment  and  lasting  fame, — of  success  in  litera- 
ture and  science,  over  the  glittering  rewards  of  vulgar  am- 
bition.1 

But  he  was  now  struggling  with  penury.  Though  his 
income  was  large,  his  old  debts  were  very  heavy ;  and  one 
of  his  weaknesses  was  a  love  of  show.  He  had  been 
obliged  to  sell  York  House,  with  all  its  splendid  furniture, 
— very  much  to  reduce  his  establishment  at  Gorhambury, 
and  to  confine  himself  chiefly  to  his  "lodgings"  in  Gray's 
Inn.  Yet  when  he  came  into  public,  or  made  a  journey 
into  the  country,  he  still  insisted  on  appearing  in  a  hand- 
some equipage,  attended  with  a  numerous  retinue.  About 
this  time,  Prince  Charles,  falling  in  with  him  on  the  road, 
exclaimed  with  surprise,  "  Well !  do  what  we  can,  this 
man  scorns  to  go  out  in  snuff."  The  consequence  was, 
that  his  embarrassments  multiplied  upon  him,  instead  of 
being  cleared  off.  He  was  obliged  to  write  (very  irre- 
gularly) to  the  Lord  Keeper,  praying  him  not  to  issue  an 
extent  on  a  security  he  had  given  to  a  goldsmith  for  a  shop 
debt  twelve  years  before.4  He  often  wanted  funds  for  his 
most  pressing  necessities ;  and  was  obliged  to  borrow 
small  sums  from  his  friends.  The  steadiest  of  these  was 

1  Several  Englishmen  owe  their  distinction  as  authors  to  their  crosses  as 
politicians.  If  my  "  Lives  of  the  Chancellors"  gain  any  celebrity,  my 
humble  name  may  be  added  to  the  class  adorned  by  Clarendon  and  Boling- 
broke.  I  shall  then  be  highly  contented  with  my  lot.  I  do  not  undervalue 
great  judicial  reputation,  but  I  would  rather  have  written  Hyde's  character 
of  Falkland,  than  have  pronounced  the  most  celebrated  judgments  of  Lord 
Hardwicke  or  Lord  Eldon.*  •  May  30,  1622. 


*  Written  in  1845,  when  I  was  Ex-Chancellor  of  Ireland,  without  prospect 
of  ever  again  being  in  office.  My  success  as  a  Biographer  makes  me  cor- 
dially rejoice  that  for  near  seven  years  I  remained  without  office,  profession, 
salary,  or  pension. — Note  to  yd  Edition. 


1623.]  LORD    BACON.  103 

Sir  Julius  Caesar,  the  Master  of  the  Rolls,  who  had  mar- 
ried his  niece, — and  now  not  only  lent  him  money,  but 
occasionally  received  him  into  his  house  in  Chancery 
Lane.  There  is  even  a  tradition,  that  not  liking  the  beer 
of  Gray's  Inn,  and  not  having  credit  with  the  publicans 
of  Holborn,  the  Ex-Chancellor  sent  to  borrow  a  bottle  of 
beer  from  Greville,  Lord  Brooke,  who  lived  in  the  neigh- 
borhood, and  that,  having  done  this  often,  the  butler  had 
at  last  orders  to  deny  him.1  Yet  he  would  not  allow  his 
woods  to  be  cut  down  at  Gorhambury,  from  which  he 
might  have  had  a  handsome  supply ; — exclaiming,  "  I  will 
not  be  stripped  of  my  feathers."1 

The  provostship  of  Eton  becoming  vacant,  he  pressingly 
applied  for  the  situation,  in  terms  which  should  have  in- 
sured his  success.  "  It  were  a  pretty  cell  for  my  fortune. 
The  college  and  school,  I  do  not  doubt  but  I  shall  make 
to  flourish."3  Every  one  must  wish  that  he  had  suc- 
ceeded ;  not  only  from  a  kindly  feeling  towards  him,  but 
for  the  benefit  of  this  great  seminary,  and  the  cause  of 
good  education  in  England.  The  Lord  Keeper  spitefully 
interposed  with  his  wise  saws:  "  It  is  somewhat  necessary 
to  be  a  good  scholar ;  but  more  that  he  be  a  good  husband, 
and  a  careful  manager,  and  a  stayed  man ;  which  no  man 
can  be  that  is  so  much  indebted  as  the  Lord  St.  Alban."  * 
A  prior  promise  to  Sir  William  Beecher  was  the  first  ex- 
cuse ;  but  the  place  was  finally  jobbed  to  Sir  Henry 
Wottom,  on  his  releasing  a  reversionary  grant  of  the  Mas- 
tership of  the  Rolls,  to  be  conferred  on  a  rapacious  de- 
pendent of  Buckingham,  who  could  still  do  him  service. 
Bacon  received  the  news  of  this  appointment  while  he  was 
dictating  to  Rawley,  his  chaplain  and  secretary;  and  when 
the  messenger  was  gone,  he  said  calmly,  "  Well,  Sir,  yon 
business  won't  go  on ;  let  us  go  on  with  this,  for  this  is  in 
our  power  /" — and  then  he  dictated  to  him  afresh  for  some 
hours  without  the  least  hesitation  of  speech,  or  inter- 
ruption of  thought. 

When  fresh  grievances  and  conflicts  had  made  the 
people  forget  the  Ex-Chancellor's  offenses  and  his  punish- 
ment, the  part  of  his  sentence,  "that  he  should  not  come 
within  the  verge  of  the  Court,"  was  disregarded  ;  and  at 

1  Wilson's  Hist.  James  I.     Kennet,  vol.  ii.  736. 

3  Ibid.  a  Ibid. 

4  Williams  to  Buckingham,  II  April,  1623. 


J04  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.  [1623. 

his  earnest  entreaty,  the  King  agreed  to  see  him  privately 
at  Whitehall.  We  have  an  account  of  what  passed  at  this 
interview  by  Bacon  himself,  which  he  drew  up  and  sent 
to  the  King,  that  the  impression  might  be  more  lasting. 
Amidst  a  great  deal  of  flattery  heaped  upon  his  Majesty, 
he  seems  not  to  have  overlooked  his  own  merits  and  ser- 
vices ;  dwelling  as  he  was  often  wont  to  do  on  the  as- 
sertion, that  "  no  measure  he  had  ever  brought  forward 
had  miscarried,  and  that  though  unfortunate  for  himself 
he  had  always  been  successful  for  the  Crown."  He  then 
strongly  pressed  that  he  might  be  again  employed ; 
promising,  that  in  that  case,  "  he  would  so  live  and 
spend  his  time,  as  neither  discontinuance  should  disable 
him,  nor  adversity  discourage  him,  nor  anything  he  did 
should  bring  any  scandal  or  envy  upon  him."  If  he  can 
not  have  public  employment,  he  begs  that  his  opinion 
may  be  taken,  or  that  propositions  may  be  required  of 
him  privately,  as  he  should  be  glad  even  to  be  a  laborer 
or  pioneer  in  the  service.  Lastly,  he  prayed  that  he 
might  serve  calamo  if  not  consilio ;  and  that  the  King,  an 
universal  scholar,  would  appoint  him  some  new  task  or 
literary  province,  to  which  he  might  devote  himself  for 
his  Majesty's  honor.  Upon  this  occasion  he  seems  to 
have  aimed  several  blows  at  the  more  prosperous  cour- 
tiers, who  were  still  basking  in  the  sunshine  of  royal 
favor :  "  There  be  mountebanks  as  well  in  the  civil  body 
as  in  the  natural.  I  ever  served  his  Majesty  with  mod- 
esty; no  shouldering,  no  undertaking.  Of  my  offenses, 
far  be  it  from  me  to  say,  dat  veniam  corvis  vexat  censura 
cohimbas  ;  but  I  will  say  that  I  have  good  warrant  for, 
they  were  not  the  greatest  offenders  in  Israel  upon  whom  the 
toiver  of  Siloam  fell"  He  contended  that  his  recall  to 
office  would  rather  be  well  received  by  the  public:  ''  For 
it  is  an  almanac  of  the  last  year,  and,  as  a  friend  of  mine 
said,  the  parliament  died  penitent  towards  me."  To 
the  objection,  that  a  miracle  only  could  restore  him,  he 
answers,  "  Your  Majesty  has  power:  I  have  faith  ;  there- 
fore a  miracle  may  soon  be  wrought."  His  last  observa- 
tion, which  affects  to  be  merry,  is  full  of  melancholy. 
"  I  would  live  to  study,  and  not  study  to  live ;  yet  I  am 
prepared  for  date  obolum  Belisario  ;  and  I  that  have  borne 
a  bag,1  can  bear  a  wallet."  But'' Buckingham  had  found 
1  The  bag  or  purse  containing  the  Great  Seal. 


1623.]  LORD      BACON.  105 

agents  whom  he  considered  more  useful,  and  Bacon  re- 
mained in  disgrace. 

During  the  romantic  expedition  of  "  Baby  Charles," 
and  "  the  dog  Steenie,"  to  Madrid  to  hasten  the  match 
with  the  Infanta,  he  renewed  his  instances  with  the  King, 
but  even  with  less  prospect  of  success,  for  the  royal  word 
had  been  passed  that  no  change  should  be  made  till  their 
return. 

On  this  event  Bacon  sent  a  letter  of  congratulation  to 
Buckingham,  concluding  with  the  prayer,  "  My  Lord,  do 
some  good  work  upon  me  that  I  may  end  my  days  in 
comfort,  which  nevertheless  can  not  be  complete,  except 
you  put  me  in  some  way  to  do  your  noble  self  service."  : 

Still,  while  the  nation  was  agitated  by  the  discussion 
between  the  King  and  the  Commons,  by  the  sudden  dis- 
solution of  parliament,  by  the  unhappy  fate  of  the  Palat- 
inate, by  the  intrigues  about  the  Spanish  match,  by  the 
struggle  between  Buckingham  and  Bristol,  by  the  new 
alliance  with  France,  and  by  the  impeachment,  in  a  new 
parliament,  of  the  Lord  Treasurer  Middlesex, — Bacon  was 
condemned  to  look  on  as  an  idle  spectator,  or  to  shut 
himseff  up  in  Gray's  Inn  like  a  cloistered  friar. 

What  he  felt  most  severely  was  his  exclusion  from 
parliament.  During  his  long  career  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, and  during  the  short  time  he  had  sat  in  the  House 
of  Peers,  he  had  enjoyed  the  consequence  of  being  the 
best  debater  of  his  time,  and  he  was  confident  that,  if  the 
disqualification  imposed  by  his  sentence  were  removed, 
he  not  only  would  have  an  agreeable  and  creditable 
occupation  in  again  taking  a  part  in  parliamentary  busi- 
ness, but  that  the  weight  and  importance  he  should  soon 
acquire  would  force  him  back  into  high  office.  This 
speculation  was  very  reasonable.  Never  sat  so  formi- 
dable an  Ex-Chancellor.  In  the  first  encounter  he  must 
have  utterly  extinguished  the  Right  Reverend  the  Lord 
Keeper  Williams,  the  present  occupant  of  the  woolsack. 
For  a  season,  he  might  have  thought  that  he  observed  a 
little  shyness  and  coldness  in  the  manner  of  old  associates; 
and  there  might  have  been  a  few  awkward  allusions  to 
the  cause  of  his  long  absence  from  the  House ;  but  from 
the  amenity  of  his  manners,  his  unrivaled  eloquence,  and 
his  power  of  sarcasm,  he  would  soon  have  been  courted, 

1  Works,  v.  577. 


106  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I,          [1624. 

feared,  and  flattered.  The  past  being  forgotten  by  general 
consent,  he  would  have  swayed  the  deliberations  of  the 
assembly,  and  the  government  must  have  secured  his  sup- 
port on  his  own  terms. 

Perhaps  some  such  contemplations  mixed  themselves 
up  with  his  affected  humility,  when  he  thus  wrote  to  the 
King:  "  I  prostrate  myself  at  your  Majesty's  feet,  I,  your 
ancient  servant,  now  sixty-four  years  old  in  age,  and  three 
years  five  months  old  in  misery.  I  desire  not  from  your 
Majesty  means,  nor  place,  nor  employment,  but  only, 
after  so  long  a  time  of  expiation,  a  complete  and  total  re- 
mission of  the  sentence  of  the  Upper  House,  to  the  end 
that  blot  of  ignominy  may  be  removed  from  me,  and 
from  my  memory  with  posterity ;  that  I  die  not  a  con- 
demned man,  but  may  be  to  your  Majesty,  as  I  am  to 
God,  nova  creatura.  Look  down,  dear  Sovereign,  upon 
me  in  pity.  This,  my  most  humble  request  granted,  may 
make  me  live  a  year  or  two  happily ;  and  denied,  will  kill 
me  quickly." 

This  appeal  was  effectual,  and  the  King  directed  a  war- 
rant to  the  Attorney  General,  which,  after  reciting  the 
sentence  upon  the  late  Lord  Chancellor,  his  former  serv- 
ices, how  well  and  profitably  he  had  spent  his  time  since  his 
trouble,  and  his  Majesty's  desire  to  remove  from  him  that 
blot  of  ignominy  which  yet  remained  upon  him  of  inca- 
pacity and  disablement,  required  a  pardon  to  be  made 
out  in  due  form  of  the  whole  sentence. 

This  was  accordingly  done,  and  Bacon  was  once  more 
entitled  to  appear  in  his  robes  on  the  Viscounts'  bench, 
and  to  enjoy  all  the  rights  of  the  Peerage.  But  parliament 
did  not  again  assemble  during  the  remainder  of  this  reign; 
and  although  he  was  summoned  to  the  parliament  which 
met  on  the  accession  of  Charles  I.,  he  was  then  so  broken 
down  by  age  and  sickness,  that  he  was  unable  to  take  his 
seat,  and  all  his  visions  of  power  and  greatness  had  for 
ever  fled. 

Surmounting  the  feebleness  of  frame  which  had  pre- 
vented him  from  partaking  in  school-boy  sports,  his  con- 
stitution never  was  robust ;  from  severe  study  the  marks 
of  age  were  early  impressed  upon  him,  and  his  mental 
sufferings  had  greatly  assisted  the  attacks  of  disease  by 
which  he  was  periodically  visited.  He  continued,  how- 

1  Works,  v.  583. 


1624.]  LORD      BACON.  107 

ever,  to  carry  on  a  noble  struggle  against  all  his  ills  and 
infirmities.  He  published  new  editions  of  his  works,  and, 
with  assistance,  translated  those  in  English  into  Latin, — 
from  the  mistaken  notion  that  this  would  for  ever  con- 
tinue the  familiar  dialect  of  all  men  of  education,  and  that 
only  fleeting  fame  could  be  acquired  by  composing  in  any 
•modern  tongue.  His  English  Essays  and  Treatises  will 
be  read  and  admired  by  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  all  over  the 
world,  to  the  most  distant  generations ;  while  since  the 
age  which  immediately  succeeded  his  own,  only  a  few  re- 
condite scholars  have  penetrated  and  relished  the  ad- 
mirable good  sense  enveloped  in  his  crabbed  Latinity. 

To  show  the  versatility  of  his  powers, — in  imitation  of 
Julius  Caesar,  he  wrote  a  "Collection  of  Apophthegms," 
or  a  "  Jest  Book."  This  is  said  "  to  have  been  dictated 
by  him  in  one  rainy  day,  and  to  be  the  best  extant." 
That  it  was  begun  in  a  rainy  day  is  very  probable,  but  it 
is  evidently  the  result  of  much  labor,  and  of  repeated 
efforts  of  recollection.  He  himself,  after  praising  these 
mucrones  vcrborum,  says,  "  I  have  for  my  own  recreation, 
amongst  more  serious  studies,  collected  some  few  of 
them." — language  not  at  all  applicable  to  one  continuous 
dictation.  As  to  its  "  excellence,"  the  world  is  certainly 
much  indebted  to  it,  for  it  contains  many  most  excellent 
mots  of  the  author  and  his  contemporaries,  which  other- 
wise would  have  perished ;  but  they  are  mixed  up  with 
not  a  few  platitudes,  which  do  not  give  us  a  high  notion 
of  the  relish  for  true  wit  among  the  lawyers  and  states- 
men of  Elizabeth  and  James. 

In  performance  of  his  promise  to  the  King,  he  actually 
began  the  stupendous  undertaking  of  framing  a  "  Digest 
of  the  Laws  of  England ;"  but  finding  "  it  was  a  work  of 
assistance,  and  that  which  he  could  not  master  by  his 
own  forces  and  pen,  he  soon  laid  it  aside." '  He  seems 
to  have  been  conscious  that  he  did  not  excel  in  historical 
composition  ;  for,  having  been  urged  to  write  a  "  History 
of  Great  Britain,"  and  a  "  History  of  the  Reign  of  Henry 
VIII.,"  he  never  got  beyond  the  first  chapter  of  either. 
His  last  publications  in  James's  reign  were  his  "  Dialogue 
touching  an  Holy  War," — an  abstract  speculation  upon 
the  grounds  of  justifiable  warfare  among  Christians,— and 
"  Considerations  touching  a  War  with  Spain,  inscribed  to 
1  Preface  to  Holy  War. 


io8  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    7.  [1625. 

Prince  Charles," — palliating  the  perfidy  with  which  the 
Duke  of  Buckingham  had  broken  off  negotiations  with 
the  Spanish  government,  and  the  folly  with  which  he  was 
involving  the  country  in  useless  hostilities.  This  help 
was  much  wanted,  for  the  adherents  of  Bristol  and  Pem- 
broke were  multiplying  rapidly,  and  bitter  discontent  was 
spreading  among  all  ranks  of  society. 

While  Bacon  looked  for  his  reward,  the  scene  suddenly 
shifted.  The  Sovereign  whom  he  had  so  long  despised 
and  flattered  was  no  more,  and  a  new  reign  had  com- 
menced. 

Bacon  no  doubt  was  in  hopes  that  Charles,  who  had 
shown  such  attachment  to  him,  and  whom  he  had  so 
seduously  cultivated  by  letters,  dedications,  and  messages, 
being  on  the  throne,  Buckingham,  who  had  kept  the 
prince  in  a  state  of  great  thralldom,  would  be  dismissed, 
and  he  himself  might  be  placed  at  the  helm  of  affairs. 
Even  if  Buckingham  retained  his  ascendency,  a  hope  re- 
mained to  the  Ex-Chancellor  from  a  growing  coldness  be- 
tween him  and  Lord  Keeper  Williams.  But  what  was 
Bacon's  mortification  to  see  the  despotism  of  Buckingham 
still  more  absolute,  if  possible,  under  the  son  than  it  had 
ever  been  under  the  father,  and  the  Great  Seal  restored 
to  the  keeping  of  the  Welshman,  whom  he  invariably  con- 
demned, and  whom  he  had  such  reason  to  dislike ! 

He  felt  the  deepest  disappointment;1  a  severe  attack 
of  illness  followed,  and  he  resolved  to  renounce  politics — 
in  which  he  bitterly  regretted  that  he  had  ever  engaged, 
uttering  this  lamentation, — "  The  talent  which  God  has 
given  me  I  have  misspent  in  things  for  which  I  was  least 
fit."  He  published  no  more  pamphlets;  he  wrote.no 
more  letters  of  solicitation  to  Buckingham  ;  he  did  not 
seek  to  disturb  by  any  memorial  of  himself  the  festivities 
of  the  young  Sovereign  on  his  marriage  with  a  French 
bride  ;  he  declined  attending  the  coronation  as  a  Peer, 
which  he  was  entitled  to  do,  taking  precedence  of  all  the 
ancient  Barons :  and  when  the  writ  of  summons  to  the 
parliament  requiring  him  to  be  present  to  counsel  the 
King  circa  ardua  regni  was  delivered  to  him,  he  said, — 
"  I  have  done  with  such  vanities."  While  squabbles  were 

1  Even  in  his  last  will  he  can  not  conceal  his  sense  of  the  inconstancy  of 
Charles,  whom  he  thus  describes:  "My  most  gracious  Sovereign,  -who  ever 
•when  he  was  Prince  was  my  patron," 


1625.]  LORD    BACON.  109 

going  on  in  parliament,  first  at  Westminster  and  then  at 
Oxford, — and  the  nation  was  in  a  flame  by  the  abrupt 
dissolution, — he  remained  in  retirement  at  Gorhambury, 
and,  as  far  as  his  exhausted  frame  would  permit,  dedicated 
himself  to  those  studies  which  he  regretted  had  been  so 
often  interrupted  by  pursuits  neither  calculated  to  confer 
internal  peace  nor  solid  glory. 

He  even  heard  without  emotion,  in  the  following  No- 
vember, that,  preparatory  to  the  summoning  of  another 
parliament,  Lord  Keeper  Williams  had  been  dismissed, 
and  that,  without  any  application  or  communication  to 
himself,  the  Great  Seal  had  been  transferred  to  Sir 
Thomas  Coventry.  He  foresaw  that  his  earthly  career 
was  drawing  to  a  close,  and  he  prepared  to  meet  his  end 
with  decency  and  courage.  He  was  reconciled  to  Bishop 
Williams,  whom  he  forgave  the  various  evil  turns  he  had 
formerly  so  bitterly  complained  of,  and  whom  he  even 
now  admitted  into  his  confidence. 

On  the  I9th  of  December,  1625,  with  his  own  hand,  he 
wrote  his  last  will, — which  contains  touches  of  true  pathos 
and  sublimity.  After  some  introductory  words,  he  thus 
proceeds:  "For  my  burial,  I  desire  it  may  be  in  St. 
Michael's  Church,  near  St.  Alban's:  there  was  my  mother 
buried,  and  it  is  the  parish  church  of  my  mansion-house 
at  Gorhambury,  and  it  is  the  only  Christian  church  within 
the  walls  of  old  Verulam.  For  my  name  and  memory,  I 
leave  it  to  men's  charitable  speeches,  and  to  foreign  na- 
tions, and  -the  next  ages."  He  then  gives  directions 
respecting  his  published  works,  and  leaves  two  volumes 
of  his  Speeches  and  Letters,  which  he  had  collected,  to 
the  Bishop  of  Lincoln  and  the  Chancellor  of  the  Duchy  of 
Lancaster,  to  be  dealt  with  as  they  should  think  fit. 
He  bequeaths  many  legacies  to  his  friends,  and  directs 
the  surplus  of  his  property,  after  payment  of  debts  and 
legacies,  to  be  laid  out  in  founding  lectureships  in  the 
Universities. 

Laudably  anxious  about  his  future  fame,  while  he  was 
making  Christian  preparation  for  the  great  change  which 
approached,  he  wrote  a  few  days  after  to  the  Bishop  of 
Lincoln,  to  inform  him  of  the  trust  he  wished  him  to 
undertake : — "  I  find  that  the  ancients,  as  Cicero,  De- 
mosthenes, Plinius,  Secundus,  and  others,  have  preserved 
both  their  orations  and  their  epistles.  In  imitation  of 


no  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.          [1625. 

whom  I  have  done  the  like  to  my  own,  which  nevertheless 
I  will  not  publish  while  I  live ;  but  I  have  been  bold  to 
bequeath  them  to  your  Lordship  and  Mr.  Chancellor  of 
the  Duchy.  My  speeches  perhaps  you  will  think  fit  to 
publish :  the  letters,  many  of  them,  touch  too  much  upon 
late  matters  of  state  to  be  published;  yet  I  was  willing 
they  should  not  be  lost."  The  Bishop  said  in  his  answer, 
— "  I  do  embrace  the  honor  with  all  thankfulness,  and  the 
trust  imposed  upon  me  with  all  religion  and  devotion." 
At  the  same  time,  while  he  does  justice  to  Bacon's  ora- 
torical powers,  he  pretty  plainly  intimates  that  his  fame 
would  not  be  raised  by  the  publication  of  his  letters, — a 
criticism  in  which  I  entirely  concur;  in  general  they  are 
written  in  a  stiff,  formal,  ungraceful  style, — and  when  the 
writer  tries  to  be  light  and  airy,  we  have  such  a  botch  as 
might  have  been  expected  if  Horace  Walpole  had  been 
condemned  to  write  the  NOVUM  ORGANUM.  The  felic- 
itous epistolary  tone  had  not  yet  been  caught  from  the 
French  ;  and  it  was  not  till  near  half  a  century  afterwards 
that  there  were  any  good  letters  in  our  language. 

Though  his  body  was  now  much  enfeebled,  his  mental 
activity  never  left  him.  He  wrote  some  religious  tracts, 
and  he  employed  himself  in  a  metrical  translation,  into 
English,  of  some  of  the  Psalms  of  David, — showing  by 
this  effort,  it  must  be  confessed,  more  piety  than  poetry. 
His  ear  had  not  been  formed,  nor  his  fancy  fed,  by  a 
perusal  of  the  divine  productions  of  Surrey,  Wyat, 
Spenser,  and  Shakespeare,  or  he  could  not  have  produced 
rhymes  so  rugged,  and  turns  of  expression  so  mean.  Few 
poets  deal  in  finer  imagery  than  is  to  be  found  in  the 
writings  of  Bacon ;  but  if  his  prose  is  sometimes  poetical, 
his  poetry  is  always  prosaic. 

This,  the  last  of  his  works  which  he  lived  to  finish,  he 
dedicated  to  a  much  valued  private  friend,  who  was  a 
divine,  and  himself  a  writer  of  sacred  poetry ;  thus  ad- 
dressing him : — "  It  being  my  manner  for  dedications  to 
choose  those  that  I  hold  most  fit  for  the  argument,  1 
thought  that  in  respect  of  divinity  and  poesy  met,  whereof 
the  one  is  the  matter,  the  other  the  style  of  this  little 
writing,  I  could  not  make  better  choice."  ' 

"  By  means  of  the  sweet  air  of  the  country  he  had  ob- 

1  Mr.  George  Herbert.     Works,  ii.  552. 


1626.]  LORD    BACON.  in 

tained  some  degree  of  health"1  in  the  autumn  of  1625; 
but  a  dreadfully  severe  winter  followed,  which  aggravated 
his  complaints  and  brought  him  very  low. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  following  year  he  was  removed, 
for  the  benefit  of  medical  advice,  to  his  lodging  in  Gray's 
Inn,  and  his  strength  and  spirits  revived ;  but  he  confined 
himself  to  those  noble  studies  which  he  had  long  sacrificed 
to  professional  drudgery  and  courtly  intrigue.  Summoned 
as  a  Peer  to  Charles's  second  parliament,  which  met  in 
February,  he  declined  to  take  his  seat,  or  to  interest 
himself  in  the  struggles  going  on  between  the  King  and 
the  Commons,  and  between  Bristol  and  Buckingham.  But 
the  firmness  and  magnanimity  which  he  displayed  gave 
to  this  last  sad  stage  of  his  life  a  dignity  beyond  what 
office  and  power  could  bestow.  His  friends  affectionately 
gathered  round  him,  showing  him  every  mark  of  attach- 
ment and  respect ;  the  public,  forgetting  his  errors,  an- 
ticipated what  was  due  to  his  "  name  and  memory ;"  and 
the  learned  in  foreign  countries  eagerly  inquired  after  the 
great  English  Philosopher,  who  was  hardly  known  to  them 
as  a  Judge  or  a  Minister. 

Many  distinguished  foreigners  came  to  England  for  the 
express  purpose  of  seeing  and  conversing  with  him.* 
Gondomar,  the  Spanish  ambassador,  having  returned  to 
his  own  country,  kept  up  a  close  correspondence  with 
him  till  the  time  of  his  death. 

The  Marquis  d'Effiat,  who  brought  over  the  Princess 
Henrietta  -Maria,  distinguished  for  his  elegant  accomplish- 
ments no  less  than  his  high  rank,  went  to  Gray's  Inn  to 
pay  his  respects  to  the  man  whose  writings  he  had 
studied  and  admired.  Bacon,  sick  in  bed,  did  not  like  to 
turn  him  away,  but  received  him  with  the  curtains  drawn. 
"  You  resemble  the  angels,"  said  the  Ambassador;  "we 
hear  those  beings  continually  talked  of;  we  believe  them 
superior  to  mankind  ;  and  we  never  have  the  consolation 
to  see  them." 

In  reference  to  the  noble  close  of  his  career  Ben  Jon- 
son  exclaimed,  "  My  conceit  towards  his  person  was  never 
increased  by  his  place  or  honors-,  but  I  have  and  do  rev- 

1  Letter  to  Mr.  Palmer,  Oct.  29,  1625. 

2  "  Viri  primarii  aliquot,  dum  adhuc  in  vivis  fuit,  nullam  aliam  ob  causam 
hue  in  Angliam   transfretarunt,   quam  ut  eum  conspicirent  et  cum  eo  coram 
loquendi  opportunitatem  captarent." — Raivley. 


ii2  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    7.  [1626. 

erence  him  for  the  greatness  that  was  only  proper  to 
himself,  in  that  he  seemed  to  me  ever  by  his  works  one 
of  the  greatest  men,  and  most  worthy  of  admiration,  that 
had  been  in  many  ages  :  in  his  adversity  I  ever  prayed 
that  God  would  give  him  strength, — for  greatness  he  could 
not  want  ; — neither  could  I  condole  in  a  word  or  syllable 
for  him,  as  knowing  no  accident  could  do  harm  to  virtue, 
but  rather  help  to  make  it  manifest." 

His  love  of  science  never  was  more  eager  and  unwearied 
than  now,  amidst  the  evils  which  surrounded  him,  and 
which  he  knew  he  could  not  overcome.  In  contemplation 
of  a  new  edition  of  his  "Natural  History,"  he  was  keenly 
examining  the  subject  of  antiseptics,  or  the  best  means 
of  preventing  putrefaction  in  animal  substances.  "  The 
great  apostle  of  experimental  philosophy,  was  destined  to 
become  its  martyr."  It  struck  him  suddenly,  that  flesh 
might  as  well  be  preserved  by  snow  as  by  salt.  From  the 
length  and  severity  of  the  winter,  he  expected  that  snow 
might  still,  in  shaded  situations,  be  discovered  on  the 
ground.  Dr.  Wetherborne,  the  King's  physician,  agreed 
to  accompany  and  assist  him  in  a  little  experimental 
excursion.  At  Highgate  they  found  snow  lying  behind  a 
hedge  in  great  abundance,  and,  entering  a  cottage,  they 
purchased  a  fowl  lately  killed,  which  was  to  be  the  subject 
of  the  experiment.  The  philosopher  insisted  on  cram- 
ming the  snow  into  the  body  of  the  fowl  with  his  own 
hands.  Soon  after  this  operation,  the  cold  and  the  damp 
struck  him  with  a  chill,  and  he  began  to  shiver.  He  was 
carried  to  his  coach,  but  was  so  seriously  indisposed  that 
he  could  not  travel  back  to  Gray's  Inn,  and  he  was  con- 
veyed to  the  house  of  his  friend,  the  Earl  of  Arundel,  at 
Highgate.  There  he  was  kindly  received,  and,  out  of 
ceremony,  placed  in  the  state  bed.  But  it  was  damp,  not 
having  been  slept  in  for  a  year  before,  and  he  became 
worse.  A  messenger  was  dispatched  for  his  old  friend 
and  connection,  Sir  Julius  Caesar,  who  immediately  came 
to  him.  Next  day  he  was  rather  better,  and  was  able  to 
dictate  the  following  letter  to  the  Earl  of  Arundel,  which 
proved  his  dying  effort : — 

"  My  very  good  Lord, 

"  I  was  likely  to  have  had  the  fortune  of  Cajus  Plinius 
the  elder,  who  lost  his  life  by  trying  an  experiment  about 
the  burning  of  the  Mount  Vesuvius.  For  I  was  also  desirous 


1626.]  LORD    BACON.  113 

to  try  an  experiment  or  two,  touching  the  conservation  and 
induration  of  bodies.  As  for  the  experiment  itself,  it  suc- 
ceeded excellently  well ;  but  in  the  journey  between 
London  and  Highgate  I  was  taken  with  such  a  fit  of  cast- 
ing as  I  knew  not  whether  it  were  the  stone,  or  some 
surfeit  of  cold,  or  indeed  a  touch  of  them  all  three.  But 
when  I  came  to  your  Lordship's  house  I  was  not  able  to 
go  back,  and  therefore  was  forced  to  take  up  my  lodging 
here,  where  your  housekeeper  is  very  careful  and  diligent 
about  me,  which  I  assure  myself  your  Lordship  will  not 
only  pardon  toward  him,1  but  think  the  better  of  him1  for 
it.  For  indeed  your  Lordship's  house  was  happy  to  me  ; 
and  I  kiss  your  noble  hands  for  the  welcome  which  I  am 
sure  you  give  me  to  it. 

"  I  know  how  unfit  it  is  for  me  to  write  to  your  Lord- 
ship with  any  other  hand  than  my  own ;  but,  by  my 
troth,  my  fingers  are  so  disjointed  with  this  fit  of  sickness 
that  I  can  not  steadily  hold  a  pen." 

A  like  fortune  to  that  of  the  elder  Pliny  actually  did 
abide  him  ;  for  a  violent  attack  of  fever  supervened,  with 
a  defluxion  on  his  breast ;  and  early  in  the  morning  of 
Easter  Sunday,  the  Qth  of  April,  1626,  he  expired  in  the 
arms  of  Sir  Julius  Caesar.  He  had  not  in  his  last  mo- 
ments the  soothing  consolations  of  female  tenderness. 
Although  his  wife  had  brought  him  no  children,  and  she 
had  never  been  a  companion  to  him,  they  had  lived  to- 
gether on  decent  terms  till  within  the  last  few  months, — 
when  they  had  separated,  and  he,  "  for  just  and  great 
causes,"  had  revoked  all  the  testamentary  dispositions  he 
had  made  in  her  favor.* 

Thus  died,  in  the  66th  year  of  his  age,  Francis  Bacon, 
not  merely  the  most  distinguished  man  who  ever  held 

1  Sit.  Housekeepers  then  were  of  the  male  sex. — "  To  be  said  an  honest 
man  and  a  good  housekeeper." — Shakespeare.  The  word  had  changed  its 
gender  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne  : 

"  Call  the  old  housekeeper,  and  get  her 

To  fill  a  place  for  want  of  better." — Swift. 

1  Rawley,  in  terms  which  shake  our  confidence  in  him  as  a  biographer, 
celebrates  their  uninterrupted  connubial  love  and  happiness.  "  Neque  vero 
liberorum  defectus  ullo  pacto  amorem  ejus  erga  nuptam  imminuit,  quam 
summa  semper  dilectione  conjugali  et  amoris  indiciis  prosecutus  est  ;  supel- 
lectili  lauta,  monilibus  variis  et  fundis  insuper  donavit."  Whereas,  the  irri- 
tated husband  says  by  his  codicil,  "  Whatsoever  I  have  given,  granted,  con- 
firmed, or  appointed  to  my  wife,  I  do  now,  for  just  and  great  causes,  utterly 
revoke  and  make  void,  and  leave  her  to  her  right  only." 
III.— 8 


ii4  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    7.          [1626. 

the  Great  Seal  of  England,  but,  notwithstanding  all  his 
faults,  one  of  the  greatest  ornaments  and  benefactors  of 
the  human  race. 

The  plan  of  the  present  work  has  justified  me  in  giving 
this  circumstantial  account  of  his  life,  but  prevents  me 
from  dwelling  at  any  length  upon  his  character,  or  at- 
tempting an  analysis  of  his  writings. 

Unfortunately,  hardly  any  of  his  judgments  on  questions 
of  law  or  equity  have  come  down  to  us ;  but  we  need  not 
doubt  that,  when  unbiased  by  mandates  from  Bucking- 
ham, or  gifts  from  the  parties,  they  were  uniformly  sound. 
No  one  ever  sat  in  Westminster  Hall  with  a  finer  judicial 
understanding;  no  one  ever  more  thoroughly  understood 
the  duties  of  a  judge,1  and  his  professional  acquirements 
and  experience  were  sufficient  to  enable  him  satisfactorily 
to  dispose  of  all  the  variety  of  business  which  came  before 
him.  I  attach  little  weight  to  the  assertion  that  u  none 
of  his  decrees  were  reversed,"  as  there  was  then  no  appeal 
from  the  Court  of  Chancery,  and  there  is  no  authentic  ac- 
count of  what  was  done  when  some  of  the  cases  he  had 
decided  were  reheard  by  his  successor. 

The  "  Orders "  which  he  promised  when  he  took  his 
seat  he  soon  issued  to  the  number  of  one  hundred,  and 
they  remain  a  monument  of  his  fame  as  a  great  Judge. 
They  are  wisely  conceived,  and  expressed  with  the  greatest 
precision  and  perspicuity.  They  are  the  foundation  of  the 
practice  of  the  Court  of  Chancery,  and  are  still  cited  as 
authority." 

King  James,  being  told  by  Lord  Coke  that  he  could 
only  dispense  justice  in  the  Courts  of  law  by  his  Judges, 
had  a  mind  to  try  his  hand  in  Chancery,  believing,  accord- 
ing to  the  vulgar  notion,  that  the  only  thing  to  be  done 
there  was  to  temper  rigid  rules  according  to  the  justice  of 
the  particular  case,  which  he  thought  was  peculiarly  the 

1  See  particularly  his  Essays,  "  Of  Great  Place,"  "  Of  Seeming  Wise,"  and 
"  Of  Judicature,"  which  ought  to  be  frequently  read  and  pondered  by  all 
Judges. 

2  Although  they  have  been  varied  in  detail,  I  only  find  in  them  one  prin- 
ciple which  would  not  now  be  recognized.      No.  6.  "  No  decrees  shall  be 
made  upon  pretense  of  equity  against  the  express  provision  of  an  act  of  par- 
liament."    (So  far  so  well.)     "  Nevertheless,  if  the  construction  of  such  act 
of  parliament  hath  for  a  time  gone  one  way  in  general  opinion  and  reputa- 
tion, and  after  by  a  later  judgment  hath  been  controlled,  then  relief  may  be 
given  upon  matter  of  equity  for  cases  arising  before  the  said  judgment,  be- 
cause the  subject  was  in  no  default." — See  Beames's  Orders. 


LORD    BACON.  115 

province  of  the  Sovereign.  Bacon,  however,  soon  disgusted 
him  with  equity,  by  making  him  understand  that  he  must 
hear  both  sides  before  he  determined.  The  modern  Solo- 
mon declared  that  he  could  make  up  his  mind  without 
difficulty  when  he  had  only  heard  the  plaintiff's  case,  but 
that  the  conflict  between  the  counsel  on  opposite  sides 
so  puzzled  and  perplexed  him,  that,  if  he  must  hear  both, 
he  would  thereafter  hear  neither; — and  he  went  off  to  join 
in  the  safer  amusement  of  hunting  at  Royston.1 

While  Bacon  was  Chancellor  he  regularly  twice  a  year 
— before  the  commencement  of  each  of  the  two  circuits — 
assembled  all  the  Judges  and  all  the  Justices  of  Peace  that 
happened  to  be  in  London  in  the  Exchequer  Chamber, 
and  lectured  them  upon  their  duties — above  all  admon- 
ishing them  to  uphold  the  prerogative — "  the  twelve 
Judges  of  the  realm  being  the  twelve  lions  under  Solo- 
mon's throne,  stoutly  to  bear  it  up,  and  Judges  going 
circuit  being  like  planets,  revolving  round  the  Sovereign 
as  their  sun."  He  warned  them  against  hunting  for  popu- 
larity, saying,  "A  popular  Judge  is  a  deformed  thing, 
and  plaudites  are  fitter  for  players  than  magistrates."  The 
Justices  he  roundly  threatened  with  dismissal  if  they 
did  not  effectually  repress  faction,  "of  which  ensue  in- 
finite inconveniences  and  perturbations  of  all  good  order, 
and  crossing  of  all  good  service  in  court  and  country." 
And  he  told  them  he  should  follow  a  fine  remedy  devised 
by  Cicero  when  consul,  a  mild  one  but  an  apt  one :  Eos 
qui  otium  frerturbant  reddam  otiosos? 

In  swearing  in  new  Judges,  he  delivered  most  excellent 
advice  to  them,  which  should  be  kept  in  remembrance  by 

1  But  James,  in  the  early  part  of  his  reign,  actually  heard  to  the  end  a 
long  trial  in  the  Star  Chamber,  presiding  and  giving  judgment.  Countess  of 
Exeter  v.  Sir  Thomas  Lake.  On  this  occasion  he  was  celebrated  by  the 
courtiers  for  having  even  exceeded  the  best  performances  of  the  ancient 
Solomon.  "  His  most  excellent  Majesty,  with  more  than  Solomon's  wisdom, 
heard  the  cause  for  five  days,  and  pronounced  a  sentence  more  accurately 
eloquent,  judiciously  grave,  and  honorably  just,  to  the  satisfaction  of  all 
hearers  and  of  all  the  lovers  of  justice,  than  all  the  records  extant  in  this 
kingdom  can  declare  to  have  been  at  any  former  time  done  by  any  of  his 
royal  progenitors." — Hudson,  p.  9.  The  Star  Chamber  being  in  reality  only 
the  Privy  Council,  over  which  the  King  continued  personally  to  preside, 
James  was  probably  here  acting  according  to  law,  if  it  was  his  taste  to  play 
the  Judge,  however  wrong  he  might  be  in  contending  that  he  had  a  right  to 
decide  causes  in  the  King's  Bench,  although  they  are  said  to  be  "  coram  Rege 
if  so." 

8  Bacon's  Works,  vol.  vi.  141,  194,  244,  iv.  497. 


n6  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    7. 

all  their  successors.  Thus  he  counsels  JUSTICE  HUTTON, 
when  called  to  be  a  Judge  of  the  Common  Pleas : — 

"  Draw  your  learning  out  of  your  books,  not  out  of  your 
Drain. 

"  Mix  well  the  freedom  of  your  own  opinion  with  the 
reverence  of  the  opinion  of  your  fellows. 

"  Continue  the  studying  of  your  books,  and  do  not 
spend  on  upon  the  old  stock. 

"  Fear  no  man's  face,  yet  turn  not  stoutness  into  bravery. 

"  Be  a  light  to  jurors  to  open  their  eyes,  not  a  guide  to 
lead  them  by  the  noses. 

"  Affect  not  the  opinion  of  pregnancy  and  expedition  by  an 
impatient  and  catching  hearing  of  the  counsellors  at  the  bar. 

"  Let  your  speech  be  with  gravity,  as  one  of  the  sages 
of  the  law,  and  not  talkative,  nor  with  impertinent  flying 
out  to  show  learning.1 

"  Contain  the  jurisdiction  of  your  Court  within  the 
ancient  merestones,  without  removing  the  mark." 

Bacon,  although  without  any  natural  taste  for  legal 
studies,  felt  that  he  must  ascribe  the  elevation  which  he 
prized  so  much  to  his  profession,  and  he  had  a  sincere  de- 
sire to  repay  the  debt  of  gratitude  which  he  was  ever  ready 
to  acknowledge  that  he  owed  it.  He  wrote  valuable 
treatises  to  explain  and  improve  the  laws  of  England, — • 
he  was  eager  to  assist  in  digesting  them, — and  he  induced 
the  King  to  appoint  reporters  with  adequate  salaries,  who 
should  authoritatively  print  such  decisions  of  the  Courts, 
and  such  only,  as  would  be  useful — guarding  against  the 
publication  of  crude,  trifling,  contradictory  cases,  which 
had  then  become  alarming,  and  by  which  we  are  now 
overwhelmed.3 

Viewed  as  a  statesman, — as  far  as  right  principles  and 
inclinations  are  concerned,  Bacon  deserves  high  commen- 
dation. He  was  for  governing  constitutionally  by  parlia- 

1  "  An  overspeaking  Judge  is  no  well-timed  cymbal.  It  is  no  grace  to  a 
Judge  first  to  find  that  which  he  might  have  heard  in  due  time  from  the  bar, 
or  to  show  quickness  of  conceit  in  cutting  off  evidence  or  counsel  too  short, 
or  to  prevent  [anticipate]  information  by  questions,  though  pertinent." — 
Essay  of  Judicature. 

*  Rymer's  Fred.,  vol.  xvii.  p.  2"J.  "  Ordinatio  qua  constituantur  les  Re- 
porters de  lege."  After  stating  the  King's  anxiety  to  preserve  the  ancient 
law,  and  to  prevent  innovations,  he  declares  that  he  has  thought  it  good  to 
revive  the  custom  of  appointing  some  grave  and  learned  lawyers  as  reporters, 
&c. ;  their  stipend  was  fixed  at  j£ioo,  but  there  were  only  two  for  all  the 
Courts. 


LORD    BACON.  n7 

ments ;  he  never  counseled  violent  measures ;  and,  though 
he  labored  under  the  common  error  about  the  balance  of 
trade  and  the  necessity  for  laws  to  prevent  the  exporta- 
tion of  coin,  he  had  generally  just  views  both  of  domestic 
and  foreign  policy.  He  was  a  reformer,  yet  he  saw  the 
danger  of  rash  innovation  ;  and  he  says,  "  it  is  not  good 
to  try  experiments  in  states  except  the  necessity  be  urgent, 
or  the  utility  evident,  and  well  to  beware  that  it  is  the 
reformation  that  draweth  on  the  change,  and  not  the  de- 
sire of  change  that  pretendeth  the  reformation." ' 

The  advice  he  gave  respecting  Ireland  is  beyond  all 
praise,  and  never  having  been  steadily  acted  upon,  it  is 
unfortunately  highly  applicable  to  our  own  times.  On 
new-year's  day,  1606,  he  presented  to  the  King,  as  a 
"Gift,"  a"  Discourse  touching  the  Plantation  in  Ireland," 
saying  to  him,  "  I  assure  myself  that  England,  Scotland, 
and  Ireland,  well  united,  in  such  a  trefoil  as  no  Prince, 
except  yourself,  who  are  the  worthiest,  weareth  in  his 
crown;" — and  points  out  to  him  how,  by  liberality  and 
kindness,  the  union  might  be  accomplished.  He  displays 
a  mos_t  intimate  knowledge  of  the  miseries  of  Ireland, 
their  causes  and  cure.  "  This  desolate  and  neglected 
country  is  blessed  with  almost  all  the  dowries  of  nature — 
with  rivers,  havens,  woods,  quarries,  good  soil,  temperate 
climate,  and  a  race  and  generation  of  men,  valiant,  hard, 
and  active,  as  it  is  not  easy  to  find  such  confluence  of 
commodities, — if  the  hand  of  man  did  join  with  the  hand 
of  nature; -but  they  are  severed, — the  harp  of  Ireland  is 
not  strung  or  attuned  to  concord." 

We  must  not  suppose  that  he  was  either  insincere  or 
unenlightened  in  his  political  theories  by  merely  regard- 
ing his  practice ;  for  he  had  no  moral  courage,  and  no 
power  of  self-sacrifice  or  self-denial.  Hence  we  account 
for  his  clinging  to  every  minister  who  could  advance  him, 
— for  his  sealing  patents  to  create  a  monopoly  in  all 
articles  of  necessity  and  luxury, — and  for  his  writing  in 
defense  of  a  Spanish  war,  for  which  he  knew  there  was  no 
just  cause,  and  which  he  knew  could  promote  no  national 
object. 

His  published   speeches  (which  he  evidently  thought 

1  If  misled  by  no  personal  interest  he  would  have  supported  the  Bill  of 
Rights  in  1689,  and  the  Reform  Bill  in  1832 — and  by  going  so  far  and  no 
further,  would  have  assisted  in  saving  the  constitntion. 


n8  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I. 

might  be  compared  to  the  choice  specimens  of  ancient 
eloquence)  do  not  support  his  fame  as  an  orator.  They 
are  superior  to  those  of  his  contemporaries,  and  even  to 
those  of  the  leaders  of  the  Long  Parliament,  who,  as  boys, 
were  studying  under  him,  but  who  suffered  the  effect  of 
their  masculine  thinking  to  be  weakened  by  endless  heads 
and  subdivisions,  and  to  be  counteracted  by  courtly  rib- 
aldry or  by  puritanical  cant.  Nevertheless,  no  speech  of 
his,  at  the  bar  or  in  parliament,  even  approaches  the 
standard  of  pure  and  sustained  eloquence  set  us  by  Ers- 
kine  and  Burke, — and  to  get  his  weighty,  rich,  and  pa- 
thetic  passages  we  must  pass  over  much  that  is  quaint, 
pedantic  and  dull.1 

But  it  was  as  a  philosopher  that  Bacon  conquered  im- 
mortality, and  here  he  stands  superior  to  all  who  went 
before,  and  to  all  who  have  followed  him.  If  he  be  not 
entitled  to  a  place  in  the  interior  of  the  splendid  temple 
which  he  imagined  for  those  who,  by  inventing  arts,  have 
embellished  life,  his  statue  ought  to  appear  in  the  more 
honorable  position  of  the  portico,  as  the  great  master  who 
has  taught  how  arts  are  to  be  invented — with  this  in- 
scription on  its  pedestal, — 

"  O  tenebris  tantis  tarn  clarum  extollere  lumen 
Qui  primus  potuisti,  illustrans  commoda  vitse." 

However,  I  must  limit  myself  to  declaring  my  humble  but 
hearty  concurrence  in  the  highest  praises  that  have  been 
bestowed  upon  him  for  what  he  did  for  science.  No 
one  is  so  absurd  as  to  suppose  that  he  was  the  first  to 
render  experience  available  in  the  search  after  truth  ;  but 
he  it  was  that  first  systematically  showed  the  true  object 
of  philosophical  inquiry,  and  the  true  means  by  which 
that  object  was  to  be  attained.  Before  and  during  his 
time  discoveries  were  accidentally  made ;  but  they  were 
retarded  and  perverted  by  fantastical  h  priori  theories, 
which  they  were  supposed  to  illustrate.  He  taught  as  one 
inspired,  that  the  labor  of  all  who  think  ought  to  be  to 
multiply  human  enjoyments  and  to  mitigate  human  suffer- 
ings, and  that  for  this  purpose  they  must  observe  and 

1  In  his  own  time  he  seems  to  have  been  considered  equally  eminent  as  an 
orator  and  as  an  author.  Raleigh,  no  mean  judge,  declared  that  "  Lord 
Salisbury  was  a  great  speaker  but  a  bad  writer,  and  Lord  Northampton  was 
a  great  writer  but  a  bad  sneaker,  while  Lord  Bacon  was  equally  excellent  in 
speaking  and  writing." 


LORD    BACON.  119 

reason  only  from  what  they  see.  All  who  have  studied 
the  history  of  ancient  or  modern  science,  must  be  aware 
of  the  host  of  established  errors  he  had  to  encounter, 
which  were  supposed  to  be  sanctioned  by  names  of  no 
meaner  note  than  those  of  Plato  and  Aristotle.  But  with 
what  courage,  steadiness,  and  perseverance  did  he  pro- 
ceed with  his  undertaking !  Luckily  he  was  in  no  danger 
of  losing  the  place  of  Solicitor  or  Attorney  General,  or 
Lord  Chancellor,  by  exposing  the  idola  tribus,  the  idola 
specus,  the  idola  fori,  or  the  idola  theatri. 

His  plan  was  left  unfinished ;  but  in  spite  of  all  the  dis- 
tractions of  professional  drudgery  and  groveling  ambition, 
— although,  in  the  language  of  Sir  Thomas  Bodley,  "  he 
wasted  many  years  on  such  study  as  was  not  worthy  of 
such  a  student," — he  accomplished  more  for  the  real  ad- 
vancement of  knowledge  than  any  of  those  who  spent 
their  lives  in  calm  meditation  under  sequestered  porticoes 
or  amidst  academic  groves. 

With  all  his  boldness  he  is  entirely  free  from  dogmatism 
and  intolerance, — unlike  the  religious  reformers  of  his  day, 
who,  assailing  an  ancient  superstition,  wished  to  burn  all 
who  'doubted  the  new  system  which  they  set  up  in  its 
place.  Having  put  down  tyranny,  he  did  not  himself 
assume  the  sceptre,  but  proclaimed  freedom  to  mankind. 

I  deny  the  recent  assertion,  that  little  practical  benefit 
arose  from  his  writings — which  is  founded  on  the  false 
statement  that  they  were  little  read  in  England,  and  were 
hardly  known  abroad  till  analyzed  in  the  Preface  to  the 
French  Encyclopaedia  by  D'Alembert  and  Diderot.  They 
were  eagerly  read  and  studied  in  this  country  from  the 
time  they  were  respectively  published  ;  and  as  soon  as 
they  appeared  here,  they  were  all  reprinted  and  translated 
on  the  Continent.  Attacked  by  obscure  men,  they  were 
defended  by  Gassendi,  Puffendorff,  and  Leibnitz.  They 
made  a  deep  impression  on  the  public  mind  of  Europe, 
which  has  never  been  effaced ;  and  to  their  direct  and  in- 
direct influence  may  be  ascribed  many  of  the  brilliant  dis- 
coveries which  illustrated  the  latter  half  the  seventeenth 
century.1 

1  It  is  not  very  creditable  to  England  that  Bacon's  philosophical  works 
have  fallen  into  comparative  neglect  in  his  own  country.  Aristotle  excludes 
them  at  Oxford,  and  they  are  not  the  subject  of  any  lectures  or  examinations 
at  Cambridge — while  at  most  foreign  universities  "  the  Baconian  system  "  is 


120  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I. 

I  must  likewise  indignantly  repel  the  charge  brought 
against  him,  that  he  is  a  mere  "utilitarian" — in  the  con- 
tracted and  bad  sense  of  the  word — having  regard  only  to 
our  physical  wants.  He  always  remembered  that  man  is  a 
social  and  reasonable  and  accountable  being,  and  never 
erred  by  supposing  that  his  true  welfare  could  be  promoted 
without  ample  provision  for  cultivating  his  affections,  en- 
lightening his  understanding,  and  teaching  him  his  duties 
to  his  Maker.  A  most  perfect  body  of  ethics  might  be 
made  out  from  the  writings  of  Bacon ;  and  though  he 
deals  chiefly,  in  his  examples,  with  natural  philosophy,  his 
method  is  equally  well  adapted  to  examine  and  classify 
the  phenomena  of  mind. 

I  may  not  enter  into  any  minute  criticisms  on  the  style 
of  his  philosophical  works,  whether  English  or  Latin  ; 
yet  I  can  not  refrain  from  remarking,  that  while  he  in- 
structs he  is  exact,  perspicuous,  and  forcible, — charming 
his  reader  with  a  felicity  of  illustration  peculiar  to  himself, 
— even  seconded  by  the  commanding  powers  of  a  bold 
and  figurative  eloquence.  To  beginners,  the  "  Advance- 
ment of  Learning  "  is  certainly  the  most  captivating  per- 
formance,— but  let  them  proceed,  and  they  will  soon  be 
familiar  with  the  "  De  Augmentis," — and  the  most  ab- 
stract aphorisms  in  the  "  NovUM  ORGANUM  "  will  yield 
them  delight. 

Bacon's  miscellanous  literary  productions  would  of 
themselves  place  him  high  as  an  author.  Many  of  the 
observations  on  life  and  manners  in  his  "  Essays  "  have 
passed  into  maxims  or  proverbs,  and  are  familiar  to  us 
from  infancy.  Of  all  the  compositions  in  any  language  I 
am  acquainted  with,  these  will  bear  to  be  the  oftenest 
perused  and  reperused,  and  after  every  perusal  they  still 
present  some  new  meaning  and  some  new  beauty.  He 
was  himself  conscious  of  his  power  in  this  department  of 
literature,  and  of  the  "  luster  and  reputation  these  recre- 
ations of  his  other  studies  would  yield  to  his  name."1 

His  l<  New  Atlantis"  he  seems  to  have  intended  as  a 
rival  to  the  "  Utopia"  of  Sir  Thomas  More,  although  his 
object  was  less  to  satirize  existing  institutions  and  man- 
regularly  taught — and  it  is  to  Scotch  professors,  Reid,  Dugald  Stewart,  Robi- 
son,  and  Playfair,  that  it  owes  its  best  illustrations. 

1  Letter  to  Bishop  of  Winchester.  Again,  he  resembles  his  short  Essays  to 
the  reformed  coin,  "  where  the  pieces  are  small,  but  the  silver  is  good.' 


LORD    BACON.  121 

ners  than  to  point  out  the  unbounded  progress  that  might 
be  made  in  discovery  and  improvement.1  Some  of  his 
suggestions  which  must  have  appeared  the  most  extrava- 
gant to  his  contemporaries  have  been  realized  in  the 
present  age. 

His  tract  "  On  Church  Controversies"  is  admirably 
written, — to  inculcate  the  salutary  precept  that  Christians 
should  contend  "not  as  the  brier  with  the  thistle,  which 
can  wound  deepest ;  but  as  the  vine  with  the  olive,  which 
bears  best  fruit." 

His  derivation  of  all  physical  and  moral  truth  from  myth- 
ological fables  in  his  "  Wisdom  of  the  Ancients,"  is 
often  forced  and  far-fetched  ;  but  nowhere  do  we  trace  more 
striking  proofs  of  his  imagination,  and  his  power  of  dis- 
covering resemblances  and  differences, — in  which  consist 
wit  and  wisdom. 

His  Latin  style,  though  pointed  and  forcible,  is  not 
sweet  nor  pure ;  but  he  has  left  us  some  of  the  best 
specimens  of  genuine  Anglicism,  and  the  few  antiquated 
words  and  turns  of  expression  which  we  find  in  his 
writing,  as  in  the  contemporary  translation  of  the  Bible, 
only  give  additional  weight  and  solemnity  to  the  senti- 
ments which  he  expresses.  Addison,  who  knew  what 
good  composition  was,  talks  with  rapture  of  his  "  beautiful 
lights,  graces,  and  embellishments." 

In  considering  his  private  character,  we  must  begin 
with  the  formidable  admission  that  he  was  without  steady 
attachments  as  well  as  aversions,  and  that,  regardless  of 
friendship  or  gratitude,  he  was  governed  by  a  selfish  view  of 
his  own  interest.  But  he  was  perfectly  free  from  malignity  ; 
he  was  good-natured  and  obliging ;  when  friends  stood 
between  him  and  his  object — sacrificing  them  to  the  nec- 
essary extent — he  did  them  as  little  further  damage  as 
possible — and  instead  of  hating  those  whom  he  had 
injured,  he  was  rather  disposed  to  be  reconciled  to  them, 
and  to  make  them  amends  by  courtesy,  if  he  could  not 
render  them  real  service. 

I  find  no  impeachment  of  his  morals  deserving  of  atten- 
tion— and  he  certainly  must  have  been  a  man  of  very 

1  This  work  seems  to  have  been  deeply  studied  by  Swift,  who  has  happily 
ridiculed  some  parts  of  it  in  Gulliver's  Travels,  particularly  in  the  voyage  to 
Laputa.  Another  Lord  Chancellor  has  attempted  a  philosophical  romance, 
but  Lord  Erskine's  "Armata"  does  not  encourage  his  successors  to  venture 
again  upon  this  mode  of  addressing  the  public. 


122  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    /. 

great  temperance,  for  the  business  and  studies  through 
which  he  went  would  be  enough  to  fill  up  the  lives  of  ten 
men  who  spend  their  evenings  over  their  wine,  and  awake 
crapulous  in  the  morning.  "  Nullum  momentum  aut  tem- 
poris  segmentum  perire  et  intercidere  passus  est"  * — 
knowing  that  if  he  took  good  care  of  sections  of  an  hour, 
entire  days  would  take  care  of  themselves. 

All  accounts  represent  him  as  a  most  delightful  com- 
panion, adapting  himself  to  company  of  every  degree, 
calling,  and  humor — not  engrossing  the  conversation — but 
trying  to  get  all  to  talk  in  turn  on  the  subject  they  best 
understood — and  not  disdaining  to  light  his  own  candle  at 
the  lamp  of  any  other.5  He  was  generally  merry  and 
playful,  bringing  out  with  great  effect  his  unexhausted 
store  of  jests,  new  and  old,  and  remembering  that  "  to  be 
free-minded  and  cheerfully  disposed  at  hours  of  meat,  and 
of  sleep,  and  of  exercise,  is  one  of  the  best  precepts  of 
long  lasting."  3 

If  he  was  not  very  steady  in  his  friendships,  where  dis- 
turbed by  ambition  or  rivalry,  it  should  be  recollected 
that  he  was  ever  kiud  to  his  servants  and  dependents  ;  and 
the  attachment  of  Meautys,  who  remained  devotedly  true 
to  him  in  all  his  fortunes, is  equally  honorable  to  both  parties. 

He  was  rather  fanciful  about  his  health,  preferring 
meats  which  bred  "juices  substantial  and  less  dissipable" 
— taking  three  grains  of  niter  daily  in  warm  broth,  and  an 
infusion  of  rhubarb  into  white  wine  and  beer  once  in  six 
or  seven  days,  immediately  before  his  meal,  "  that  it  might 
dry  the  body  less." 

To  show  something  supernatural  about  such  a  man,  for 
the  purpose  of  raising  our  wonder  and  admiration — Raw- 
ley,  his  chaplain  and  secretary,  asserts — and  his  subsequent 

1  Rawley. 

s  "  Convivantium  neminem  aut  alias  colloquentium  pudore  suffundere 
glorise  sibi  duxit,  sicut  nonnulli  gestiunt ;  sed  facultates  eorum  qualescunque 
fovere  et  provehere  paratus  erat.  Quin  et  sermonis  licentiam  sibi  soli  arri- 
pere  in  more  non  erat ;  sed  et  aliis  simul  considentibus  libertatem  et  vicissi- 
tudinem  loquendi  permittere  :  hoc  etiam  addendo,  quodinarte  unumquemque 
propria  lubentissime  audiret,  etad  ejusmodi  dissertationem  pellicere  et  provo- 
care  consueverit.  Ipse  autem  nullius  observationes  contempsit ;  sed  ad  can- 
delam  cujuslibet  lampada  suam  accendere  non  erubuit." — Rawley.  This  pas- 
sage seems  to  have  escaped  the  attention  of  two  illustrious  writers  who  have 
drawn  his  character — Hallam  and  Macaulay. 

3  Rawley.  Oh  !  for  a  Bos  well  to  have  recorded  the  conversation  when  he 
had  Raleigh,  Ben  Jonson,  Selden,  and  Gondomar  for  guests ! 


LORD    BACON.  123 

biographers  have  repeated — that  at  every  change  or  any 
eclipse  of  the  moon,  he  invariably  fainted,  although  he 
was  not  aware  that  such  an  event  was  to  take  place,  but 
that  he  recovered  as  soon  as  the  sun's  rays  again  illumined 
her  disc.1  As  no  instance  is  recorded  of  his  ever  having 
fainted  in  public,  or  put  off  the  hearing  of  a  cause  on  ac- 
count of  the  change  of  the  moon,  or  of  any  approaching 
eclipse,  visible  or  invisible — and  neither  himself  nor  any 
of  his  other  contemporaries  refer  to  any  such  infirmity, 
and  such  a  "  delicacy  of  temperament"  is  somewhat  in- 
credible— we  must  set  down  the  story  to  the  invention  or 
easy  credulity  of  the  man  who  thought  that  it  might  be 
explained  by  his  hero's  "  lunar  horoscope  at  the  moment 
of  his  birth." 

A  more  serious  matter  is  the  charge  brought  against  him 
of  infidelity.  At  one  time  in  his  youth  he  seems  not  only 
to  have  been  sceptical,  but  to  have  been  disposed  openly 
to  insult  the  religion  of  others.  Notwithstanding  the 
stout  denial  that  he  was  the  author  of  the  "  Paradoxes," 
I  can  not  doubt  that  the  publication  is  from  his  pen,  and  I 
can  not  characterize  it  otherwise  than  as  a  profane  attempt 
to  ridicule  the  Christian  faith.  But  I  suspect  that  he  is 
describing  the  history  of  his  own  mind  when  he  says,  "  It 
is  an  assured  truth,  and  a  conclusion  of  experience,  that  a 
little  or  superficial  knowledge  of  philosophy  may  incline 
the  mind  of  man  to  atheism,  but  a  further  proceeding 
therein  doth  bring  the  mind  back  again  to  religion  ;  for  in 
the  entrance  of  philosophy,  when  the  second  causes, 
which  are  next  unto  the  senses,  do  offer  themselves  to  the 
mind  of  man,  if  it  dwell  and  stay  there,  it  may  induce 
some  oblivion  of  the  highest  cause  ;  but  when  a  man  pass- 
eth  on  further,  and  seeth  the  dependence  of  causes  and 
the  works  of  Providence — then,  according  to  the  allegory 
of  the  poets,  he  will  easily  believe  that  the  highest  link 
of  Nature's  chain  must  needs  be  tied  to  the  foot  of 
Jupiter's  chair."  * 

"  Vcrisimile  est  lunam  in  themate  ejus  natalitio  praecipuum  aliquem  lo- 
cum (veluti  in  horoscopo  aut  medio  coeli)  tenuisse.  Quoties  enim  luna  defe- 
cit  aut  eclipsim  passa  est,  repentino  animi  deliquio  correptus  fuit  :  idque 
etiam  si  nullam  defectionis  lunaris  notitiam  praeviam  habuisset.  Quampri- 
mum  autem  luna  lumini  priori  restituta  fuisset,  confestim  refocillatus  est  et 
convaluit. " — Rawley. 

8  "Advancement  of  Learning".     See  the  Essay  "Of  Atheism,"  which  was 
added  in  the  later  editions. 


i24  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I. 

He  certainly  received  a  most  pious  education ;  and  if 
his  early  religious  impressions  were  for  a  time  weakened 
or  effaced  by  his  intercourse  with  French  philosophers,  or 
his  own  first  rash  examination  of  the  reasons  of  his  belief, 
I  am  fully  convinced  that  they  were  restored  and  deepened 
by  subsequent  study  and  reflection.  I  rely  not  merely  on 
his  "  Confession  of  Faith,"  or  the  other  direct  declarations 
of  his  belief  in  the  great  truths  of  our  religion  (although  I 
know  not  what  right  we  have  to  question  his  sincerity), 
but  I  am  swayed  more  by  the  devotional  feelings  which 
from  time  to  time,  without  premeditation  or  design,  break 
out  in  his  writings,  and  the  incidental  indications  he  gives 
of  his  full  conviction  of  the  being  and  providence  of  God, 
and  the  Divine  mission  of  our  blessed  Savior.  His  lapses 
from  the  path  of  honor  afford  no  argument  against  the 
genuineness  of  his  speculative  belief.  Upon  the  whole, 
we  may  be  well  assured  that  the  difficulties  which  at  one 
time  perplexed  him  had  been  completely  dissipated  ;  his 
keen  perception  saw  as  clearly  as  it  is  ever  given  to  man 
in  this  state  to  discover — the  hand  of  the  Creator,  Pre- 
server, and  Governor  of  the  universe; — and  his  gigantic 
intellect  must  have  been  satisfied  with  the  consideration, 
that  assuming  the  truth  of  natural  and  revealed  religion, 
it  is  utterly  inconsistent  with  the  system  of  human  affairs, 
and  with  the  condition  of  man  in  this  world,  that  they 
should  have  been  more  clearly  disclosed  to  us. 

Among  his  good  qualities  it  ought  to  be  mentioned, 
that  he  had  no  mean  jealousy  of  others,  and  he  was  al- 
ways disposed  to  pat/onize  merit.  Feeling  how  long  he 
himself  had  been  unjustly  depressed  from  unworthy  motives, 
he  never  would  inflict  similar  injustice  on  others,  and  he 
repeatedly  cautions  statesmen  to  guard  against  this  pro- 
pensity. "  He  that  plots  to  be  a  figure  among  ciphers  is 
the  decay  of  a  whole  age." 

He  retained  through  life  his  passion  for  planting  and 
gardening,  and  when  Chancellor,  he  ornamented  Lincoln's 
Inn  Fields  with  walks  and  groves,  and  gave  the  first  ex- 
ample of  an  umbrageous  square  in  a  great  metropolis.1 

Little  remains  except  to  give  some  account  of  his  per- 
son. He  was  of  a  middling  stature, — his  limbs  well 
formed,  though  not  robust', — his  forehead  high,  spacious, 
and  open, — his  eye  lively  and  penetrating ; — there  were 

1  Letter  to  Buckingham,  Nov.  12,  1618. 


LORD    BACON.  125 

deep  lines  of  thinking  in  his  face ; — his  smile  was  both  in- 
tellectual and  benevolent  ; — the  marks  of  age  were  prema- 
turely impressed  upon  him  ; — in  advanced  life,  his  whole 
appearance  was  venerably  pleasing,  so  that  a  stranger  was 
insensibly  drawn  to  love  before  knowing  how  much  reason 
there  was  to  admire  him. 

It  is  with  great  pain  that  I  have  found  myself  obliged 
to  take  an  impartial  view  of  his  character  and  conduct ; — 

"  A  fairer  person  lost  not  heaven  ;  he  seem'd 
For  dignity  composed  and  high  exploits  ;"        ,    ,. 

but  to  suppress  or  pervert  facts, — to  confound,  for  the 
purpose  of  holding  him  up  as  a.  pefect  being,  moral  dis- 
tinctions which  should  be  kept  well  defined  and  far  apart, 
— would  be  a  vain  attempt  to  do  honor  to  his  genius, — 
would  not  be  creditable  to  the  biographer  who  perceives 
his  faults, — and  would  tend  to  demoralize  as  far  as  it 
.might  be  effectual.  Others  who  really  believe  Bacon  to 
be  immaculate,  are  fully  justified  in  proclaiming  him  to 
the  world  to  be  so.  This  was  by  no  means  the  opinion 
he  entertained  of  himself.'  He  acknowledges  to  Sir  Thomas 
Bodley  his  many  errors,  and  among  the  rest,  says  he, 
"  this  'great  one  which  led  the  rest,  that  knowing  myself 
by  inward  calling  to  be  fitter  to  hold  a  book  than  play  a 
part,  I  have  led  my  life  in  civil  causes,  for  which  I  was 
not  very  fit  by  nature,  and  more  unfit  by  pre-occupation 
of  mind." 

When  young,  he  had  "  vast  contemplative  ends  and 
moderate  civil  ends."  If  he  had  inherited  the  patrimony 
intended  for  him  by  his  father,  if  he  had  obtained  the 
provision  which  he  solicited  from  the  minister  on  his 
father's  death,  it  is  possible  that  he  might  have  sunk 
into  indolence  and  obscurity;  but  from  his  native  energy, 
and  from  the  consciousness  with  which  he  seems  to  have 
been  very  early  inspired  of  his  high  calling  to  be  "  the 
great  reformer  of  philosophy,"  the  probability  is,  that  he 
would  have  left  the  Instauratio  Magna  complete,  pre- 
serving a  spotless  reputation.  Then,  indeed,  we  should 
have  justly  honored  him  beyond  any  of  his  species,  to 
whom  miraculous  gifts  have  not  been  directly  imparted 
by  Heaven.  But  without  incurring  any  blame  in  the 
first  instance,  he  was  driven  to  betake  himself  to  the  pro- 
fession of  the  law  for  a  subsistence  ;  hence,  he  was  in- 
volved in  the  vortex  of  politics;  intellectual  glory  became 


i26  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    7.         [1625. 

his  secondary  object  ;  and  his  nature  being  changed  and 
debased,  —  to  gain  professional  advancement,  official  sta- 
tion, and  political  power,  there  was  no  baseness  to  which 
he  was  not  ready  to  submit,  and  hardly  any  crime  which 
he  would  not  have  been  willing  to  perpetrate.  I  still 
readily  acknowledge  him  to  be  a  great  man  ;  but  can  only 
wish  he  had  been  a  good  man.  Transposing  the  words 
applied  by  Tacitus  to  Agricola,  I  may  truly  say,  "  Mag- 
num virum  facile  crederes,  bonum  libenter." 

According  £o  the  directions  in  his  will,  his  remains  were 
interred  in  St.  Michael's  Church,  near  St.  Alban's.  No 
account  has  reached  us  of  his  funeral,  and  there  is  reason 
to  fear  that,  on  this  occasion,  as  his  connection  with  the 
Court  had  entirely  ceased,  and  a  party  squabble  was  en- 
grossing the  attention  of  the  public,  the  great  and  the 
noble  did  not  attend  to  do  honor  to  his  memory.  But 
then  and  there,  no  doubt,  appeared  as  a  mourner,  and 
wept  tenderly,  Meautys,  his  faithful  secretary,  who,  at  his 
own  expense,  erected  to  him,  in  the  church  where  he  lies 
buried,  a  handsome  and  characteristic  monument,  repre- 
senting him  in  a  sitting  posture  with  his  hand  supporting 
his  head,  and  absorbed  in  contemplation  —  with  this  in- 
scription :  — 

Franciscus  Bacon  Baro  de  Verula  Stf  Albni  Vicmi 

Sive  notioribus  titulis 

Scientiarum  Lumen  Faciihdise  Lex 

Sic  sedebat. 

Qui  postquam  omnia  naturalis  sapientiae 

Et  civilis  arcana  evolvisset 

Naturae  decretum  explevit 

Composita  solvantur 

An0  Dni  MDCXXVI. 
LXVI. 


Tanti  viri 

Mem. 

Thomas  Meautys 

Superstitis  cultor 

Defuncti  admirator. 

H.  P. 

Notwithstanding  all  the  money  he  had  received,  duly 
and  unduly,  —  such  was  his  love  of  expense,  and  his  neg- 
lect of  his  affairs,  that  upon  his  death  his  estate  appears  to 
have  been  found  insolvent.  All  the  six  executors  whom  he 
named  in  his  will  refused  to  act,  and  on  the  I3th  of  July, 
1627,  administration  with  the  will  annexed  was  granted 


i62i.]  JOHN     WILLIAMS.  127 

to  Sir  Thomas  Meautys  and  Sir  Robert  Rich,  a  Master 
in  Chancery,  as  two  of  his  creditors. — No  funds  were  forth- 
coming for  the  foundation  of  his  lectureships.1 

His  wife  survived  him  twenty  years,  but  lived  in  retire- 
ment. 

Bacon  perhaps  comforted  himself  for  his  want  of  off- 
spring, by  recollecting  the  instances  from  which  he  drew 
his  saying,  that  "  Great  men  have  no  continuance  ;"  but 
he  seems  at  times  to  have  felt  a  pang  at  the  thought  that 
he  was  to  leave  no  children  to  close  his  eyes,  or  to  weep 
over  his  grave:  "They  increase  the  cares  of  life,  but  they 
mitigate  the  remembrance  of  death."* 


CHAPTER  LVII. 

LIFE  OF   LORD  KEEPER  WILLIAMS   FROM   HIS   BIRTH  TILL 
HIS  INSTALLATION  AS  LORD  KEEPER. 

THE  Great  Seal,  having  been  delivered  up  by  Lord 
.  Bacon  at  York  House  previous  to  sentence  being 
pronounced  upon  him,  was  brought  to  the  King 
at   Whitehall, — and  there  he  immediately  ordered  three 

1  Since  the  publication  of  the  first  edition  of  this  Life,  by  the  assistance 
of  my  friend,  Mr.  C.  Monro,  I  have  ascertained  beyond  all  question  that 
Bacon  died  insolvent.  It  appears  by  the  Registrar's  Book  that  a  creditors' 
suit  was  instituted  for  the  administration  of  his  estate.  ,  His  servants  were, 
by  consent,  to  be  paid  their  wages  in  full,  and  the  fund  arising  from  the  sale 
of  his  property  was  to  be  divided  ratably  among  the  other  creditors.  A  re- 
port to  the  Lord  Chancellor,  on  the  state  of  the  debts  and  assets,  contains 
these  very  curious  passages  :  "  That  concerning  the  several  debts  demanded 
by  Sir  Peter  Van  Lord,  Mr.  Peacock,  and  Philip  Holman,  it  is  alleged  that 
the  testator  was  sentenced  for  them  in  parliament  as  bribes,  and  therefore  not 
conceived  reasonable  that  they  should  come  in  as  creditors.  Nevertheless, 
further  time  is  given  them  to  produce  their  proofs,  and  to  hear  what  can  be 
said  on  either  side  touching  their  said  demands."  Then  with  respect  to  a 
bond  for  ^1,000  to  secure  that  amount  lent  to  him  when  he  was  Attorney- 
General,  the  report,  after  stating  the  objection  by  the  creditors,  says,  "  I  have 
thought  fit  to  set  down  the  testator's  own  words  touching  the  said  debt,  and 
so  leave  the  same  to  your  lordship's  consideration  :  '  A  note  of  such  debts  as 
either  in  respect  of  length  of  tyme  or  the  nature  of  the  first  borrowing  or 
agreement  since,  need  not  be  thought  upon  for  repayment :  viz.  The  farmers 
of  the  Customs  ^"1,000,  lent  long  since,  when  I  was  Attorney,  and  without  in- 
terest, upon  great  and  many  pleasttres  don  to  the  said  farmers,  and  whereas  I 
was  wont  to  have  of  them  yearly  a  new  yeares  guift  of  ;£ioo  at  least — upon 
this  money  lent  it  was  discontinued,  and  soe  the  principall  worne  out,  for  in- 
terest was  never  intended.'  " — Reg.  Lib.  19  Feb.  1626. 

*  Essay,  "  Of  Parents  and  Children." 


128  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.          [1621. 

commissions  to  be  sealed  with  it  in  his  presence, — one 
addressed  to  Sir  Julius  Caesar,  Master  of  the  Rolls,  and 
certain  common-law  Judges,  to  hear  causes  in  the  Court 
of  Chancery, — another  to  Sir  James  Ley,  Chief  Justice  of 
the  King's  Bench,  to  preside  as  Speaker  in  the  House  of 
Lords, — and  the  third  to  Viscount  Mandeville,  the  Lord 
Treasurer,  the  Duke  of  Lennox,  the  Earl  of  Pembroke, 
and  the  Earl  of  Arundel,  to  keep  the  Great  Seal,  and  to 
affix  it  to  all  writs  and  letters  patent  requiring  to  be 
sealed.1 

This  arrangement  continued  above  two  months  follow- 
ing,— when,  for  reasons  which  we  shall  hereafter  explain, 
the  Clavis  Regni,  after  having  been  held  during  a  period  of 
sixty-three  years  by  six  successive  laymen  bred  to  the  law, 
was,  to  the  dismay  of  Westminster  Hall  and  the  astonish- 
ment of  the  public,  delivered  to  an  ecclesiastical  Lord 
Keeper,  JOHN  WILLIAMS,  Bean  of  Westminster  and 
Bishop  of  Lincoln  elect, — a  man  of  sharp  natural  intellect, 
of  unwearied  industry,  of  great  scholastic  acquirements, 
free  from  considerable  vices,  but  not  distinguished  for  any 
very  high  qualities  of  head  or  heart, — who,  by  a  sort  of 
frolic  of  fortune,  was  suddenly  placed  in  the  very  situa- 
tion for  which  Bacon,  singularly  well  able  to  perform  all 
its  duties,  and  with  many  advantages  from  birth  and  con- 
nection, had  so  long  plotted,  before  he  could  reach  its 
slippery  eminence. 

The  principality  of  Wales  boasts  of  Williams  as  one  of 
the  most  illustrious  of  her  children.  He  was  of  the  true 
Cambrian  race,  being  the  son  of  Edmund  Williams  and 
Anne  Wynne,  daughter  of  Owen  Wynne,  Esquire,  with 
genealogies  reaching  through  Llewellyn,  King  Arthur,  and 
Caractacus,  to  Adam.  He  was  really  of  a  respectable 
gentleman's  family,  who  bore  upon  their  shield  three 
Saxons'  heads,  which,  when  he  was  made  chief  of  the  law, 
gave  rise  to  the  following  distich: — 

"  Qui  sublime  fori  potuit  conscendere  tignum, 
Par  fuit  hunc  capitum  robur  habere  trium." 

He  was  born  at  Aberconway,  in  the  county  of  Carnar- 
von, on  the  25th  day  of  March,  1582.  He  was  educated 
at  a  grammar  school  lately  established  in  the  town  of 
Ruthin,  and  is  said  to  have  there  made  great  proficiency 

1  Rot.  Cl.  19  Jac.  I.  p.  13. 


I597-]  JOHN     WILLIAMS.  129 

in  Greek  and  Latin,  although  as  yet  he  had  very  little  ac- 
quaintance with  Sassenach. 

In  his  sixteenth  year  he  was  sent  to  St.  John's  College, 
Cambridge,  and  put  under  the  care  of  a  countryman,  Owen 
Gwynne,  one  of  the  College  tutors;  and  all  the  Welshmen 
at  the  Universty  are  said  to  have  been  proud  of  his  learn- 
ing. "  One  thing  put  him  to  the  blush  and  a  little  shame, 
that  such  as  had  giggling  spleens  would  laugh  at  him  for 
his  Welsh  tone.  For  those  who  knew  him  at  his  admission 
into  St.  John's  society  would  often  say,  that  he  brought 
more  Latin  and  Greek  than  good  English  with  him  This 
also  plucked  advantage  after  it ;  for  it  made  him  a  very 
retired  student  by  shunning  company  and  conference,  as 
far  as  he  could,  till  he  had  lost  the  rudeness  of  his  native 
dialect."  ' 

He  studied  four  years  before  he  took  his  bachelor's  de- 
gree, during  which  time,  with  intervals  for  attending 
chapel,  hall,  and  lectures,  he  is  said  to  have  read  daily 
from  six  o'clock  in  the  morning  till  three  the  following 
morning ;  for,  "  from  his  youth  to  his  old  age  he  asked 
but  three  hours'  sleep  in  twenty-four  to  keep  him  in  good 
plight  of  health."  *  He  was  very  temperate  in  his  diet, 
keeping,  like  all  good  Protestants,  long  after  the  Reforma- 
tion, Lent  and  fish  days  as  rigorously  as  the  Roman 
Catholics.  Having  taken  his  Bachelor's  degree  with  great 
applause,  he  was  soon  after  elected  a  fellow  of  St.  John's, 
a  royal  dispensation  of  some  statutes,  which  stood  in  his 
way,  having  -been  obtained  at  the  request  of  the  College. 

His  diligence  continued  unabated  during  the  three  years 
"  while  he  was  running  his  course  to  the  degree  of 
Master,  a  time  of  loitering  with  too  many.  He  surren- 
dered up  his  whole  time  to  dive  into  the  immense  well  of 
knowledge  that  hath  no  bottom.  He  read  the  best,  he 
heard  the  best,  he  conferred  with  the  best,  exscribed, 
committed  to  memory,  disputed;  he  had  some  work  con- 
tinually upon  the  loom.  And  though  he  never  did  so 
much  in  this  unwearied  industry  as  himself  desired,  he  did 
far  more  than  all  who  did  highly  value  him  could  expect. 
All  perceived  that  a  fellowship  was  a  garland  too  little  for 

1  Hacket,  7.  "  There  are  few  of  our  Welsh  youth  but  at  their  first  coming 
abroad  would  move  almost  any  man  to  laughter  with  the  native  tone  of  their 
voice,  and  by  pronouncing  all  their  English  as  if  they  spoke  it  in  a  passion  ; 
and  thus  it  was  with  our  youngster." — Phillips.  *  Ibid, 

in. — 9 


i3o  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.         [1606. 

his  head,  and  that  in  that  merit  his  pace  would  quickly  go 
farther  than  St.  John's  Walks."1 

Having  taken  orders,  he  accepted  a  small  living  in  Nor- 
folk, which  he  exchanged  for  another  in  Northampton- 
shire— still  residing  at  Cambridge,  and  being  deputed  to 
manage  all  the  important  affairs  of  his  college.  In  prose- 
cuting an  application  for  a  license  to  hold  lands  in  mort- 
main, he  attracted  the  notice  of  Lord  Chancellor  Elles- 
mere,  who,  hearing  of  his  University  reputation,  observ- 
ing his  shrewdness,  and  having  heard  him  preach,  took 
him  into  his  service  as  one  of  his  domestic  chaplains. 

There  is  a  story  of  his  having  made  his  fortune  by 
pleading  a  cause  before  the  King,  respecting  the  right  of 
his  parishioners  in  Northamptonshire  to  dance  round  a 
Maypole  ;  when  he  is  supposed  to  have  pleased  James  so 
much  by  his  learning  and  eloquence,  that  he  was  made  a 
royal  chaplain,  and  placed  in  the  career  of  preferment 
which  conducted  him  to  the  woolsack.  But  Racket  is 
silent  respecting  this  introduction  to  greatness ;  and  as  it 
is  even  inconsistent  with  the  authentic  narrative  of  the 
friend  and  biographer  of  Williams,  it  can  only  be  noticed 
to  be  rejected  as  spurious. 

Before  taking  up  his  residence  at  York  House,  the 
Chancellor's  chaplain  was  allowed  to  complete  the  year 
for  which  he  was  serving  the  office  of  Proctor  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Cambridge ;  and  he  added  to  his  reputation  by 
his  energy  in  enforcing  discipline,  and  his  learning  in  con- 
ducting disputations.  Being  transferred  to  London,  "  he 
was  now  in  a  nest  for  an  eagle."  "  He  had  an  excellent 
opportunity  to  advance  himself,  and  he  made  the  most  of 
it.  Not  only  did  he  say  prayers  and  preach  before  the 
worthy  old  Chancellor,  but  he  constantly  attended  him 
wherever  he  went,  and  insinuated  himself  into  his  most 
intimate  confidence.  He  even  sat  by  him  in  the  Court  of 
Chancery,  as  well  as  in  the  Star  Chamber ;  and  "  to  climb 
Ei?  no\7tov  rrf?  ipvxrf?,  into  the  bosom  of  his  master's 
soul,  he  picked  up,  in  a  short  space,  some  gleanings,  in  his 
own  modest  words,  in  the  knowledge  of  the  common  laws 
of  the  realm;  but,  indeed,  full  sheaves,  if  his  acquaintance 
might  be  believed — having  read  '  Littleton's  Tenures/ 
'  the  Doctor  and  Student,'  and  somewhat  else  like  unto 
them,  at  hours  of  relaxation,  he  furnished  himself  with  no 
1  Racket,  8.  *  Ibid. 


1606.]  JOHN     WILLIAMS.  131 

little  quantity  of  that  learning,  by  discourse  and  confer- 
ence, and  inquiring  after  some  cases  how  they  sped  in  the 
Courts  of  Justice.  When  he  was  at  a  nonplus,  he  respited 
that  difficulty  till  he  met  with  Sir  John  Walter,  (after- 
ward Lord  Chief  Baron),  whose  judgment  was  most 
agreeable  to  his  genius." 

Hacket  thus  concludes  a  long  vindication  of  his  hero, 
illustrated  by  examples  of  ecclesiastics  who  had  gained 
renown  by  their  skill  in  the  civil  and  canon  law.  "  Why 
might  not  Mr.  Williams  examine  the  cases,  reports,  and 
maxims  of  our  municipal  laws  to  be  expert  in  them? 
Both  being  egged  on  to  it  by  the  happiness  of  his  attend- 
ance in  the  Pretorian  Court,  where  he  might  learn  much 
and  labor  little  for  it,  and  making  it  the  recreation,  not 
the  intermission,  of  his  proper  studies.  The  Lord  Chan- 
cellor did  highly  countenance  him  in  it,  and  was  so  taken 
with  his  pregnancy,  that  at  his  leisure  times,  both  for  his 
own  solace  and  his  chaplain's  furtherance,  he  would  im- 
part to  him  the  narrative  of  some  famous  causes  that  had 
been  debated  in  Chancery  or  Star  Chamber.  What  could 
not  such  a  master  teach?  what  could  not  such  a  scholar 
learn.  Socrates  says  in  Plato — of  Alcibiades — that  he 
gloried  in  nothing  so  much  as  that  he  was  ward  to 
Pericles,  and  brought  up  under  him.  Neither  had  this 
chaplain  a  more  graceful  ornament  to  show  in  the  eyes  of 
the  world  than  that  he  was  disciple  to  the  Lord  Egerton."  ' 

By  degrees,  he  was  employed  by  the  Chancellor  to  read 
weighty  petitions,  and  to  assist  him  in  extracting  the  ma- 
terial facts  from  voluminous  depositions.  At  first  there 
was  great  jealousy  of  him  among  the  secretaries  ;  but  in 
a  little  while  they  did  their  utmost  to  put  him  forward, 
and  "  none  of  his  fellows  had  cause  to  repent  that  he  rode 
upon  the  fore  horse  ;  for  he  was  courteous  and  ready  to 
mediate  in  any  cause,  and  he  left  all  fees  and  vails  of 
profit  to  those  to  whom  they  did  belong.  The  lookers-on 
did  mark,  that  his  Lord  did  not  only  use  him  in  his  most 
principal  employments,  but  delighted  to  confer  with 
him."  ' 

The  ecclesiastical  patronage  of  the  Lord  Chancellor  was 
placed  very  much  at  his  disposal.  "  They  were  godly 
men  whom  he  obliged,  and  such  as  had  waited  long  in 
the  Universities,  and  fit  to  be  called  forth  to  use  their 

1  Hacket,  20,  23,  27.  *  Ibid.  28.  *  Ibid. 


132  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.  [1617. 

talents."1  Meanwhile,  he  by  no  means  neglected  his  own 
interest.  He  obtained  the  fine  living  of  Waldegrave  in 
Northamptonshire,  in  addition  to  Grafton,  with  stalls  at 
Lincoln,  Peterborough,  Hereford,  and  St.  David's.  His 
panegyrist  defends  his  pluralities  by  the  quotation,  Quo- 
modo  liberalis  esse  potest,  qui  nihil  plus  acquireret  quam 
quod  sibi  ad  victum  necessarium  sufficere  queat  ?  * 

He  likewise  took  his  turn  in  preaching  before  the  Court, 
pleasing  James  by  his  adhesion  to  the  courtly  doctrine 
now  so  much  in  vogue, — that  subjects  hold  their  liberties 
and  their  property  at  the  will  of  the  Sovereign,  whom 
they  are  bound,  in  every  extremity,  passively  to  obey. 

What  is  more  to  his  credit  than  pleasing  James, — he  is 
said  to  have  given  high  satisfaction  to  the  admirer  of 
Raleigh, — Prince  Henry, — who,  having  heard  him  preach 
at  Newmarket,  "  took  great  notice  of  him  as  an  honor  to 
Wales,  and  gave  him  his  princely  word  that  he  would  re- 
ward him  after  the  weight  of  his  worth."  !  This  Prince, 
likely,  if  he  had  survived,  to  have  advanced  the  glory 
rather  than  the  happiness  of  his  subjects,  was  soon  after 
mysteriously  cut  off.  Williams,  however,  reaped  the  re- 
ward of  his  pliancy  and  dexterity  more  rapidly  than  he 
himself,  in  his  most  sanguine  moments,  could  have  antici- 
pated, although,  from  the  growing  infirmities  of  the  Lord 
Chancellor,  all  hope  of  higher  preferment  seemed  to  be  at 
an  end.  Ellesmere  was  made  a  Viscount ;  "  but  who  did 
ever  see  that  the  sand  in  an  hour-glass  did  run  the  slower 
because  the  case  in  which  it  was  put  was  gilded?  He  de- 
lighted not  in  any  talk  unless  his  chaplain  spoke  to  him. 
All  his  business  with  his  great  and  royal  master,  the  King, 
he  sent  by  him  to  be  delivered  with  trust  and  prudence. 
Upon  which  messages  the  King  took  great  notice,  that 
the  chaplain  was  principled  by  his  master  to  be  a  states- 
man and  a  pillar  of  the  kingdom."*  The  impression  now 

1  Racket,  28.  s  Ibid.  30. 

3  Ibid.  30.  I  have  been  favored  by  a  kinsman  of  Lord  Keeper  Wil- 
liams with  the  following  copy  of  a  letter,  written  by  him  from  Cambridge  a 
few  days  after,  addressed  to  Sir  John  Wynn,  to  whose  sons  he  had  been  tutor 
at  St.  John's  College.  "  I  have  with  my  proctorship  light  upon  a  most  loving 
and  respectful  lord — my  Lord  Chancellor — who  hath  a  fatherly  care  of  my 
estate,  as  I  have  by  many  immediate  favors  lately  tasted.  It  was  likewise  my 
good  fortune  to  give  his  Majesty  and  the  Prince  some  extraordinary  content- 
ment at  Newmarket  upon  Tuesday  last,  when  by  appointment  I  preached 
before  them.  I  had  a  great  deal  of  court  holy  water,  if  I  can  make  myself 
any  good  thereby." — Cambridge,  22  Nov.  1611.  4  Ibid.  30. 


1618.]  JOHN     WILLIAMS.  133 

made  on  James  certainly  had  a  most  favorable  influence, 
when,  four  years  afterwards,  it  was  proposed  that  the 
Chancellor's  chaplain  should  himself  be  Lord  Keeper  of 
the  Great  Seal. 

In  the  prospect  of  his  patron's  death,  Williams  seemed 
destined  to  pass  the  remainder  of  his  life  as  a  parish 
priest,  with  an  occasional  "  residence "  in  a  cathedral 
town.  Yet,  either  from  some  hint  thrown  out  to  him  by 
James,  who  always  thought  the  prerogative  would  be 
strengthened  by  the  promotion  of  churchmen,  or  from  the 
suggestions  of  vanity,  he  looked  to  rise  high  in  the  state, 
and  being  offered  by  Egerton  on  his  death-bed  any  pe- 
cuniary provision  he  should  choose  to  ask  in  recompense 
of  his  faithful  services,  he  said,  "  Sir,  I  kiss  your  hands ; 
you  have  filled  my  cup  full ;  I  am  far  from  want  unless  it 
be  of  your  Lordship's  directions  how  to  live  in  the  world, 
if  I  survive  you." — "  Well,"  said  the  Chancellor,  "  I  know 
you  are  an  expert  workman ;  take  these  tools  to  work 
with, — they  are  the  best  I  have ;"  and  he  gave  him  the 
four  treatises  written  by  himself  as  to  the  mode  of  con- 
ducting business  in  Parliament,  in  the  Court  of  Chancery, 
in  the  "Star  Chamber,  and  at  the  Council  Board.  The 
originals  of  these  Williams  presented  to  the  King  ;  but  he 
made  copies  of  them,  and  he  diligently  studied  them  in 
the  retirement  to  which  he  thought  it  for  his  advantage 
for  some  time  to  submit. 

When  Bacon  had  got  possession  of  the  Great  Seal,  he 
proposed  to  continue  Williams  in  his  present  situation  of 
Chancellor's  chaplain  ;  but  the  acceptance  of  this  offer 
was  inconsistent  with  the  ambitious  projects  which  were 
springing  up  in  the  mind  of  the  young  Welshman.  He 
declined  it  with  many  professions  of  gratitude,  and,  being 
resolved  to  settle  himself  on  his  living  of  Waldegrave,  he 
was  contented  for  the  present  with  being  made  a  Justice 
of  Peace  for  the  county  of  Northampton,  and  being  put 
into  the  list  of  King's  chaplains,  whereby  he  would  once 
a  year  be  brought  to  Court. 

He  was  now  stationed,  as  in  a  watch-tower,  to  mark 
passing  events,  and  to  meditate  future  projects.  He  saw 
that  all  favors  passed  through  the  hands  of  Buckingham  ; 
but  he  was  shy  of  cultivating  him  ;  first,  because  he  ap- 
prehended that  he  would  probably  soon  be  supplanted  in 
the  King's  affections  by  some  other  minion;  and,  sec- 


134  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.          [1620. 

ondly,  because  Buckingham  himself  was  notorious  for 
casting  off  his  subordinate  agents  as  soon  as  they  had 
served  his  turn.1  Meanwhile  he  addicted  himself  to  study, 
and  to  the  exemplary  discharge  of  his  parochial  and 
magisterial  duties.  He  kept  up  a  splendid  hospitality, 
and  though  he  distinguished  himself  at  his  table  by 
carving  and  conversation,  he  contrived  to  retain  his  own 
abstemious  habits.  He  still  occasionally  visited  White- 
hall, when  he  was  called  upon  to  officiate  as  one  of  the 
royal  chaplains,  and  he  was  surprised  to  find  Bucking- 
ham's ascendency  over  the  King  more  completely  es- 
tablished than  ever,  and  Lord  Chancellor  Bacon  submis- 
sively obeying  his  orders. 

No  longer  hesitating  about  the  right  channel  of  pre- 
ferment, he  was  much  at  a  loss  to  contrive  a  favorable  in- 
troduction to  the  dispenser  of  the  patronage  of  the  Crown, 
who  cared  little  about  sermons,  however  eloquently  the 
divine  right  of  Kings  might  be  expounded  in  them,  and 
who  was  better  pleased  with  active,  useful  service,  than 
gross,  personal  flattery.  While  in  a  desponding  mood, 
pure  good  luck  offered  him  such  an  opening  as  no  wisdom 
could  have  planned,  and  no  soothsayer  could  have  'fore- 
told. Buckingham,  the  handsomest  man  of  his  time,  was 
still  a  bachelor,  after  having  been  engaged  in  many 
amours.  He  at  last  wished  to  marry  the  Lady  Catherine 
Manners,  the  only  child  of  the  Earl  of  Rutland, — high 
born,  beautiful,  and  the  heiress  of  immense  possessions. 
But  he  was  much  disliked  by  her  family  as  an  upstart,  and 
she  herself,  having  been  educated  as  a  Roman  Catholic, 
had  great  scruples  about  being  united  to  a  Protestant. 
Williams,  having  a  living  in  the  neighborhood,  had  fre- 
quently visited  at  Belvoir,  and,  enjoying  a  great  reputa- 
tion for  sanctity,  he  stood  high  in  the  good  graces  both 
of  the  father  and  daughter. 

Buckingham  applied  to  the  rector  of  Waldegrave  to  be- 
come a  mediator  for  him  in  this  affair.  He  readily  under- 
took the  mission,  and  sped  so  well  that  the  old  Earl  con- 
sented to  take  Buckingham  for  his  son-in-law,  and  the 
young  lady,  swayed  by  the  cogent  theological  arguments 
submitted  to  her,  and  the  softened  accounts  of  the  gal- 
lantries of  her  lover  now  hinted  to  her,  renounced  the 
errors  of  Popery,  and  agreed  to  be  married  to  him  accord- 

1  Hacket,  34,  35,  36. 


i62i.]  JOHN     WILLIAMS.  135 

ing  to  the  rites  of  the  Church  of  England.  So  complete 
was  the  negotiator's  success,  that  he  was  allowed  himself 
to  draw  the  marriage-settlement,  and  to  perform  the 
marriage  ceremony.  He  used  to  say  "  that  this  negotia- 
tion was  the  key-stone  in  the  arch  of  his  preferment." ' 

He  now  considered  himself  regularly  enlisted  among 
Buckingham's  retainers;  and,  that  he  might  be  constantly 
near  the  spot  where  intrigues  were  to  be  successfully 
carried  on,  he  immediately  applied  to  his  patron  to  be 
made  Dean  of  Westminster,  saying,  "  I  am  an  humble 
suitor,  first,  to  be  acknowledged  your  servant,  and,  that  I 
may  be  nearer,  and  better  able  to  perform  my  desires,  to 
be  by  your  happy  hand  transplanted  to  Westminster.  If 
your  Honor  be  not  bent  upon  an  ancienter  servant,  I 
beseech  you  think  upon  me.  I  am  true,  and  so  reputed 
by  my  former,  and,  by  the  grace  of  God,  will  prove  no 
otherwise  to  my  second,  master."* 

The  application  succeeded,  and  Williams,  taking  up  his 
abode  at  the  Deanery, — while  he  bestowed  much  labor 
upon  the  financial  concerns  of  the  Chapter,  which  he 
found  in  sad  disorder,  frequently  attended  the  Court  at 
Whitehall,  and  was  ready  to  avail  himself  of  any  chance 
which  might  happen  for  his  further  advancement. 

On  the  3Oth  of  January,  1621,  the  parliament  met,  from 
which  James  and  his  ministers  expected  nothing  but  sup- 
plies and  submission,  but  which  Williams,  from  having 
mixed  with  the  lower  and  middling  ranks,  and  being  aware 
of  the  discontents  which  had  been  long  accumulating, 
early  perceived  would  make  an  irresistible  attack  on  cer- 
tain political  abuses  which  even  Court  preachers  could  not 
defend.  He  saw  the  Commons  begin  with  Sir  Giles 
Mompesson  and  Monopolies,  but  knew  they  would  not 
stop  there,  and,  well  pleased — not  surprised, — he  heard 
of  the  committee  appointed  to  inquire  into  the  corrupt 
practices  prevailing  in  the  Court  of  Chancery,  and  of  the 
charges  of  bribery  against  Lord  Chancellor  Bacon. 

But  he  was  surprised  as  well  as  pleased  when,  the  day 
after  Sir  R.  Philips,  chairman  of  the  committee,  had  pre- 
sented a  report  which  declared  these  charges  to  be  true 
and  the  fit  subject  of  impeachment,  he  was  sent  for  by 
Buckingham,  and  confidently  consulted  as  to  the  measures 
to  be  adopted  by  the  Court  for  quelling  the  storm. 

1  Hacket,  42.  *  Ibid.  44. 


136  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.  [1621. 

Whether  Williams  at  this  moment  dimly  discovered  any 
shadow  of  his  coming  greatness  it  is  impossible  to  say. 
Though  the  advice  he  gave  coincided  with  his  own  in- 
terest, it  must  be  allowed  to  have  been  sound.  The  vote 
of  the  House  of  Commons  against  the  Lord  Chancellor 
having  been  nearly  unanimous,  and  the  evidence  against 
him  being  conclusive,  he  was  already  condemned  by  the 
public  voice,  and  he  must  have  been  found  guilty  by  the 
Lords. 

To  stifle  the  prosecution,  while  parliament  was  allowed 
to  continue  sitting,  was  impossible.  An  abrupt  dissolu- 
tion might  have  been  resorted  to.  This  was  the  favorite 
expedient  of  the  Stuarts ;  but,  producing  a  temporary  re- 
spite, it  fatally  increased  their  difficulties.  On  the  present 
occasion,  Williams  truly  urged  "that  the  House  of  Com- 
mons as  yet  had  given  no  just  cause  of  complaint ;  that  if 
the  abuses  complained  of  existed,  the  whole  nation  would 
say  they  ought  to  be  removed ;  that  the  government 
could  not  long  be  carried  on  without  parliamentary  aids, 
and  that  another  parliament  would  only  be  more  formi- 
dable to  the  prerogatives  and  to  the  ministers  of  the 
Crown."  We  have  already  related  how  Buckingham  and 
the  King,  convinced  that  this  was  the  safest  course,  put 
themselves  under  the  guidance  of  the  Dean  of  Westmins- 
ter, who  was  supposed  by  the  public,  and  even  by  Bacon,  to 
be  only  occupied  in  saying  prayers  in  the  Abbey;  how  Sir 
Edward  Villiers  was  sent  on  his  embassy, — how  Mom- 
pesson  and  Michell  were  surrendered  up  as  victims  to 
the  public  indignation, — and  how  the  impeachment  of  the 
Chancellor  was  allowed  to  proceed,  with  every  disposition 
to  save  him  or  to  soften  his  fall.1 

A  long  adjournment  at  Easter  having  been  found  in- 
effectual to  divert  the  Commons  from  their  purpose, 
Bacon,  as  the  most  expedient  step  for  himself  and  the 
government,  confessed  the  truth  of  all  the  charges  brought 
against  him. —  Sentence  being  pronounced  upon  him,  the 
difficult  question  arose,  who  was  to  be  his  suceessor? 

The  bold  and  wise  step  would  have  been  to  have  at 
once  offered  the  Great  Seal  to  Sir  Edward  Coke,  who 
would  have  eagerly  accepted  it,  and  whose  formidable 
patriotism  would  thus  have  been  forever  extinguished,  in- 
stead of  blazing  through  the  remainder  of  this  reign,  and 

1  Ante,  p.  78  et  seq. 


i62i.]  JOHN     WILLIAMS.  137 

causing  a  conflagration  in  the  beginning  of  the  next ;  but 
he  had  rendered  himself  personally  so  obnoxious  to  the 
King,  that  his  promotion  could  not  be  proposed  without 
making  James  threaten  to  abdicate  the  English  throne 
and  to  return  to  his  own  country.  Buckingham,  likewise, 
though  now  connected  with  him  by  marriage,  was  afraid 
of  his  occasional  fits  of  independence  and  his  ungovernable 
temper. 

There  was  more  deliberation  about  Ley,  the  Chief 
Justice,  who  had  very  creditably  performed  the  duties  of 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  Lords  since  Bacon's  retirement ; 
but  it  was  thought  that  his  subserviency  might  prove 
more  valuable  by  retaining  him  to  preside  in  the  Court  of 
King's  Bench.  Hobart,  Chief  Justice  of  the  Common 
Pleas,  had  great  hopes  from  the  favor  of  the  Prince,  to 
whom  he  was  Chancellor ;  but  Buckingham  had  a  par- 
ticular antipathy  to  him,  from  his  resistance  to  some 
illegal  patents  when  he  was  Attorney  General.  The  com- 
petitor who  had  the  best  chance  was  Sir  Lionel  Cranfield, 
Master  of  the  Court  of  Wards,  who,  though  slenderly 
educated,  having  been  a  merchant's  clerk,  had  consider- 
able natural  abilities,  was  related  to  Buckingham,  and 
was  his  slave.  The  other  aspirant  was  Williams.  Having 
insinuated  himself  into  the  confidence  of  the  King  and 
his  ministers, — "  out  of  this  bud  the  Dean's  advancement 
very  shortly  spread  out  into  a  blown  flower." J  For 
some  reasons,  he  would  have  been  greatly  preferred  to  all 
the  rest,  but-there  were  obvious  objections  to  the  appoint- 
ment, which  kept  it  for  some  time  a  measuring  cast  be- 
tween him  and  Sir  Lionel  Cranfield. 

Under  these  circumstances  he  was  desired  to  draw  up  a 
statement  of  the  profits  of  the  office,  from  the  informa- 
tion he  had  derived  in  the  situation  he  had  held  under 
Ellesmere.  His  panegyrist  says,  with  true  simplicity, 
that,  "  he  returned  an  answer  on  the  loth  of  May,  with 
the  best  advantage  he  could  foresee  to  the  promotion  of 
the  Master  of  the  Wards  ;"  a  but  it  seems  quite  clear  to  me, 
that  his  object  was  to  undervalue  and  disparage  the  office 
that  it  might  come  to  himself: — 

"  My  most  noble  Lord, 

"  Although  the  more  I  examine  myself  the  more  unable 
I  am  made  to  my  own  judgment  to  wade  through  any 
1  Racket,  51.  *  Ibid.  52. 


138  CHANCELLORS     OF    JAMES    I.          [1621. 

part  of  that  great  employment  which  your  Honor  vouch- 
safed to  confer  with  me  about,  yet  because  I  was  bred 
under  the  place,  and  that  I  am  credibly  informed  my  true 
and  noble  friend,  the  Master  of  the  Wards,  is  willing  to 
accept  it  (and  if  be  so,  I  hope  your  Lordship  will  incline 
that  way),  I  do  crave  leave  to  inform  your  honor,  by  way 
of  prevention,  with  secret  underminings,  which  will  ut- 
terly overthrow  all  that  office,  and  make  it  beggarly  and 
contemptible.  The  lawful  revenue  of  the  office  stands 
thus,  or  not  much  above  it  at  any  time.  In  fines  certain, 
£1,300  per  annum,  or  thereabout.  In  fines  casual  £1,250, 
or  thereabout.  In  greater  writs,  £140.  For  impost  of 
wine,  £100 — in  all  £2,790 — and  these  are  all  the  true 
means  of  that  great  office."  '  He  then  proceeds  to  state 
how  it  was  likely  to  become  still  poorer  by  the  Lord 
Treasurer  claiming  a  certain  part  of  the  fines,  and  the  under 
officers  petitioning  "  to  have  some  collops  out  of  the 
Lord  Chancellor's  fees;"2 — thus  concluding:  "Now,  I 
hope  when  your  Lordship  shall  use  this  information  to  let 
the  King  see  it,  that  you  will  excuse  me  for  the  boldness 
that  I  am  put  upon  by  your  commands."5 

According  to  Hacket,  Buckingham  carried  this  letter, 
"  the  ink  scarce  dry,"  to  the  King, — when  the  following 
dialogue  took  place  between  them. — King.  "  You  name 
divers  to  me  to  be  my  Chancellor.  Queen  Elizabeth,  after 
the  death  of  Sir  Christopher  Hatton,  was  inclined,  in  her 
own  judgment,  that  the  good  man,  Archbishop  Whitgift, 
should  take  the  place,  who  modestly  refused  it  because  of 
his  great  age,  and  the  whole  multitude  of  ecclesiastical 
affairs  lying  upon  his  shoulders.  Yet  Whitgift  knew  not 
the  half  that  this  man  doth  in  reference  to  this  office." 
— Buckingham.  "  Sir,  I  am  a  suitor  for  none  but  for  him 
that  is  so  capable  of  the  place  in  your  great  judgment. "- 
King.  "  Be  you  satisfied  then  ;  I  think  I  shall  look  no  fur- 

1  This  must  be  a  most  extravagant  understatement  of  the  profits  of  the 
office.  I  say  nothing  of  bribes  and  presents,  said  in  Lord  Bacon's  four  years 
to  have  amounted  to  .£100.000  ;  but  the  regular  legitimate  fees  and  perquisites 
enabled  the  Lord  Chancellor  to  maintain  a  princely  establishment,  and  with 
common  prudence  to  amass  a  great  fortune.  In  a  MS.  treatise  on  the  Court 
of  Chancery  by  Sir  Robert  Cotton,  which  I  have  seen,  it  is  said,  ''  the  Lord 
Chancellor  hath  for  his  allowance,  and  of  the  Masters  of  the  Chancery, 
,£542  15^.,  and  ,£300  for  his  attendance  in  the  Star  Chamber — ,£200  for  wine, 
^64  for  wax,  and  £6  yearly  for  the  casual  fines — communibtis  annis,  £300 — 
Item  £2  of  every  patent,  and  the  fines  of  all  extents."  But  this  beggarly 
account  can  not  be  at  all  relied  upon.  s  Hacket,  51.  3  Ibid. 


i62i.]  JOHN     WILLIAMS.  139 

ther." — Buckingham  instantly  sent  a  message  to  Williams, 
that  the  King  had  a  preferment  in  store  for  him  ;  he,  not 
thinking  of  the  Great  Seal,  conjectured  it  must  be  the 
Bishopric  of  London,  then  vacant,  for  which  he  had  been 
a  suitor;  so  it  happened  to  him  as  is  related  of  Scipio 
^Emilianus :  "  sEdilitatem  petens  Consul creatus  est"  *  The 
friendly  biographer  admits  that  when  the  appointment 
was  announced  to  the  public  it  caused  great  astonishment. 
"  It  was  much  and  decidedly  spoken  of  as  a  paradox  of 
honor.  Some  could  not  believe  it.  Some  said  it  was  no 
new  way,  but  an  old  one  renewed ;  and  God  give  him  joy 
of  it.  The  best  professors  of  our  laws  took  it  sadly,  with- 
out doubt,  that  one  did  never  run  in  their  race  had  got 
their  garland."* 

This  appointment  has  not  been  sufficiently  censured  by 
historians.  It  affords  a  striking  proof  of  the  arbitrary 
principles  on  which  the  government  was  conducted,  and 
the  total  disregard  of  the  public  interest  and  of  public 
opinion  which  was  manifested  in  furtherance  of  any  scheme 
or  whim  of  the  King  or  the  minister.  Equity  had  become 
a  branjch  of  jurisprudence,  applicable  to  a  great  portion  of 
the  property  of  the  kingdom,  and  (as  Lord  Bacon's  Or- 

1  Hackett,  59. 

4  Racket,  though  he  vouches  his  credit  for  the  truth  of  this  story,  admits 
that  a  different  report  was  spread  abroad  as  to  the  manner  in  which  the  ap- 
pointment was  finally  settled,  and  I  must  confess  my  belief  that  Sir  Lionel 
Cranfield  was  induced  by  the  letter  to  prefer  the  snug  place  he  then  held  to 
one  attended  with  so  much  envy  and  danger,  and  seemingly  so  little  profit — 
whereupon  Buckingham  resolved  that  Williams  should  have  it,  on  a  promise 
to  dispose  of  its  patronage  as  directed — and  that  his  Dad  immediately  acqui- 
esced in  the  proposal  made  to  him.  Williams  himself,  I  doubt  not,  gave  his 
biographer  the  narrative  in  the  text ;  but  Clarendon  has  shewn  that  where 
his  personal  honor  was  concerned,  his  testimony  is  of  no  value. — Hist.  Reb. 
vol,  i.  345.  See  Racket,  52. 

A  piece  of  legal  preferment  is  said  to  have  been  still  more  unexpectedly 
conferred  in  the  time  of  Lord  Thurlow.  A  briefless  barrister,  the  height  of 
whose  ambition  was  to  be  a  commissioner  of  bankrupts — an  office  then  worth 
not  more  than  ;£loo  a  year — asked  the  Duke  of  Gloucester  to  apply  for  it 
to  the  Chancellor,  and  the  following  dialogue  took  place  between  them  : 
D.  of  G.  "  I  am  very  desirous  to  obtain  for  a  friend  of  mine  at  the  bar  an 
office  in  your  Lordship's  Court,  but  unfortunately  I  have  forgot  the  name  of 
it." — Thurlow.  "There  is  a  Mastership  in  Chancery  now  vacant  ;  * 
perhaps  that  is  what  your  Royal  Highness  means." — D.  of  G.  "  I  think, 
my  Lord,  that  must  be  the  very  thing." — Thurlow.  "  Sir,  I  can  not  refuse 
any  application  from  your  Royal  Highness  which  it  is  in  my  power  to  comply 
with,  and  your  friend  shall  be  appointed."  Appointed  he  was,  and  held  the 
office  very  creditably  many  years. 

*  Worth  ^3,000  or  .£4,000  a  year. 


i4o  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.  [1621. 

ders  demonstrate)  the  practice  and  doctrines  of  the  Court 
of  Chancery  had  assumed  a  systematic  form,  no  one  was 
fit  to  preside  there  till  after  legal  lucubrations  of  twenty 
years — and  a  Cambridge  scholastic  divine,  although  when 
chaplain  to  a  Lord  Chancellor  he  had  affected  to  read  and 
talk  a  little  law,  must  have  been  as  ignorant  of  the  ques- 
tions coming  before  him  as  the  doorkeepers  of  his  Court. 
Pie  was  to  superintend  the  general  administration  of  jus- 
tice through  out  the  realm,  who  had  never  acted  as  a  Judge, 
except  at  the  Waldegrave  Petty  Sessions,  in  making  an 
order  of  bastardy,  or  allowing  a  rate  for  the  relief  of  the 
parish  poor.  The  case  bore  no  resemblance  to  the  eleva- 
tion of  such  men  as  Warham,  Morton,  or  Wolsey,  who  had 
regularly  studied  the  civil  and  canon  law,  and  who  lived 
in  times  when  the  Chancellor  was  expected  to  act  accord- 
ing to  his  own  notions  of  justice,  without  regard  to  rule 
or  precedent. 

A  story  was  afterwards  circulated,  that  when  the  Great 
Seal  was  brought  from  Lord  Bacon  to  King  James,  he  ex- 
claimed :  "  Now,  by  my  soul,  I  am  pained  at  the  heart 
where  to  bestow  this ;  for  as  to  my  lawyers,  I  think  they 
be  all  knaves." '  But  this  saying  is  quite  apocryphal, 
and,  if  genuine,  would  equally  have  justified  the  appoint- 
ment of  the  Dean  of  Westminster  to  be  Chief  Justice  of 
the  King's  Bench  or  Common  Pleas.  We  may  rest  as- 
sured that  James  was  very  little  consulted  upon  the 
occasion,  and  that  Buckingham,  in  this  outrageous  act, 
considered  only  what  would  best  suit  his  own  arbitrary 
schemes  for  governing  the  country. 

A  serious  difficulty  immediately  arose  about  the  install- 
ation of  the  new  Lord  Keeper.  It  was  now  Easter  Term, 
and  he  ought  forthwith  to  have  taken  his  place  in  the 
Court  of  Chancery;  but  an  apprehension  was  entertained 
that,  from  his  gross  ignorance  of  all  that  was  to  be  done 
there,  he  might  make  some  ludicrous  blunders,  so  as  to 
stir  the  indignation  not  only  of  the  suitors  and  the  law- 
yers, but  of  the  House  of  Commons, — a  body  now  re- 
garded with  considerable  awe.  After  much  deliberation 
it  was  resolved,  on  Williams's  own  suggestion,  that  the 
Great  Seal  should  remain  in  commission  till  the  com- 
mencement of  the  long  vacation.  "  Thus  popular  discourse, 
inclining  much  to  descant  upon  this  matter,  would  spend 
1  Parkes  on  Court  of  Ch.  p.  93. 


i62i.]  JOHN     WILLIAMS.  141 

itself  away  in  two  or  three  months,  and,  as  it  were,  boiled 
from  a  pint  to  a  spoonful.  It  was  further  looked  into 
that  he  might  have  respite  to  study  the  weight  and  trust 
of  the  office,  whereby  to  supply  it  with  that  skill  as 
might  in  candor  be  expected  from  a  beginner." ' 

The  Lord  Keeper  elect  actually  began  with  immense 
vigor  the  study  of  the  law.  He  had  for  preceptor  Sir 
Harry  Finch,  whom  he  kept  in  his  lodgings  for  six  months 
following,  working  with  him  night  and  day.  In  the  mean- 
while, to  add  to  his  dignity,  he  was  made  a  Privy  Coun- 
cillor, and  appointed  to  the  see  of  Lincoln. 

Parliament  being  prorogued, — Trinity  Term  being  over, 
— and  all  the  causes  which  stood  for  hearing  being  dis- 
posed of  by  the  Commissioners, — on  the  loth  of  July  the 
King  ordered  the  Great  Seal  to  be  brought  to  him  at 
Whitehall,  and  a  document  being  sealed  with  it  merely 
by  his  own  order,  to  assert  a  right  to  use  it  without  the 
intervention  of  any  responsible  officer,2  he  seated  himself 
on  his  throne.  The  Prince  of  Wales  and  the  great  officers 
of  state  being  present,  his  Majesty  then  called  the  Dean 
of  Westminster,  who  knelt  down,  and  he  delivered  the 
Great  Seal  to  him  as  Lord  Keeper, — with  an  eloquent 
oration  on  the  integrity,  industry  and  zeal  requisite  for 
duly  discharging  the  duties  of  the  office.8 

When  Williams  had  received  the  Great  Seal  into  his 
hands,  still  remaining  on  his  bended  knees,  he  delivered 
this  address,  ascribing  his  promotion  to  the  miraculous 
interposition  of  Heaven. 

"  Most  dreaded  and  mighty  Sovereign,  if  I  should  think 
myself  any  way  worthy  or  sufficient  for  this  great  place 
wherein  your  Majesty  is  pleased  to  make  probation  of  me, 
I  were  the  most  unworthy  and  insufficient  wretch  in  all 
the  world.  But,  in  good  faith,  I  do  not :  But  as  con- 
scious of  mine  own  weakness,  as  I  am  quite  astonished  at 
your  favor  and  goodness,  I  do  not  therefore  trouble  my 
head  to  find  out  the  reason  of  this  advancement;  because 
I  take  it  for  no  ordinary  effect,  but  an  extraordinary- 
miracle.  Deus  et  qui  Deo  proximus,  tacito  munera  dispcrtit 
arbitrano,  et  beneficiorum  suorum  indignatus  per  homines 

1  Racket,  59,  60. 

*  The  Cl.  R.  says,  "  Mos  enim  iste  venit  in  consuetudinem." 

3  "  Et  postquam  elegantissimam,  gravissimam,  prudentissimam,  et  plane 

Ncstoream  oracionem  de  officio,  integritate,  sedulitate,  et  industria  in  custode 

sigilli  requirenda,"  &c. — Cl.  R.  19  Jac.  I. 


142  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.          [1621. 

stare  judicium,  mavult  de  subditis  dedisse  Miraculum.  I 
must  only  lift  up  mine  eyes  unto  Heaven,  and  beseech  that 
God,  who,  some  ten  years  since,  brought  me,  like  Elisha, 
to  be  servant  only  unto  that  Elias,  who  under  God  and 
your  Majesty  was  the  chariot  and  horsemen  of  our  Israel, 
that  now  he  would  be  pleased  to  double  the  spirit  of 
Elias  upon  his  servant  Elisha,  whom  your  Majesty  hath 
thus  invested  with  his  robe  and  mantle."  After  twad- 
dling at  considerable  length  about  his  being  "  only  a 
probationer  " — "  not  a  keeper,  but  a  suitor  only  for  the 
Great  Seal " — he  proceeds,  "  Non  ut  me  consulem,  scd  ut 
consulatus  candidatum  putem.  And  if  I  feel  the  burden  too 
heavy  (which  I  mightily  fear  and  suspect),  I  will  choose 
rather  desinere  quam  deficere,  to  slip  it  off  willingly  to 
some  stronger  shoulder  than  to  be  crushed  in  pieces  with 
the  poise.  I  will  say  unto  your  Majesty,  as  Jacob  said 
unto  Pharaoh,  Pastor  ovium  est  servus  tuns.  I  am  but  a 
keeper  of  sheep :  in  that  calling  your  Majesty  found  me, 
and  to  that  calling  I  shall  ever  be  ready  to  appropriate 
myself  again.  In  the  mean  time,  I  beseech  your  Majesty 
to  protect  this  Court  of  Justice  wherein  you  have  placed 
me,  that  the  strength  and  power  of  the  body  be  nothing 
impaired  through  the  weakness  of  the  head.  Nemo 
adolescentiam  meant  contemnat.  And  so  I  end  with  my 
prayer  unto  God  that  your  Majesty  may  live  long,  and 
myself  no  longer  than  I  may  be  serviceable  to  your  Maj- 
esty." J 

His  Majesty  graciously  replied  that  he  was  as  well 
satisfied  with  this  appointment  as  any  he  had  ever  made, 
and  he  was  persuaded  that  his  judgment  would  not  be 
deceived.3 

Ever  with  a  keen  eye  to  his  own  interest,  the  Lord 
Keeper  in  addition  to  his  new  ecclesiastical  dignity,  re- 
tained in  commendam  his  living  of  Waldegrave,  his  differ- 

1  Hacket,  61,  62.  The  Cl.  R.  thus  describes  this  part  of  the  ceremony  : 
"  Dns  Gustos  pred.  sig.  a  regiis  manibus  plane  augustissimis  mirabundus 
accipiens  brevem  et  humilissimam  orationem  huic  regiam  benignitatem  obstu- 
pescens  extulit  propriam  tenuitatem  et  infanciam  agnovit  se  a  strepitu  forensi 
abhorrentem  et  in  civilibus  hisce  occupationibus  plane  peregrim  professus  est 
nee  abstinere  posse  se  dixit  quin  illud  augustissimo  Regi  in  mentem  revocet 
quod  Jacob  olim  Pharaoni  Pastor  ovium  est  servus  tuus.  Postremo  hoc  voto 
et  observacione  sermonem  finivit  Quod  si  onus  hoc  (alii  honorem  vocant)  suis 
humeris  (quod  valde  veritus  est)  impar  usu  expiret  veniam  daret  serenissima 
Majestas  ut  hoc  officio  se  sponte  abdicaret  et  desinere  pocius  quam  deficere 
eligeret."  *  Hacket,  62. 


1 62 1.]  JOHN     WILLIAMS.  143 

ent  prebends,  and  the  Deanery  of  Westminster.  For  this 
last  piece  of  preferment  there  were  many  applicants,  and 
he  had  a  hard  struggle  for  it ;  but  he  prevailed  by  rep- 
resenting that  "if  he  were  deprived  of  it,  he  must  be  pro- 
vided with  an  official  house  at  the  public  expense ;  that 
he  had  supplies  to  his  housekeeping  from  the  College,  in 
bread,  beer,  corn,  and  fuel,  of  which,  if  he  should  be 
deprived,  he  must  be  forced  to  call  for  a  diet  which  would 
cost  the  King  .£1,600  per  annum,  or  crave  for  some  ad- 
dition in  lieu  thereof  out  of  the  King's  own  means,  as  all 
his  foregoers  in  the  office  had  done  ;  and  it  was  but  a  step 
from  thence  into  Westminster  Hall,  where  his  business 
lay,  and  it  was  a  lodging  which  afforded  him  marvelous 
quietness  to  turn  over  his  papers  and  to  serve  the  King." 

Succeeding  in  keeping  all  his  preferments,  a  jest  was 
circulated  against  him,  "  that  he  was  a  perfect  diocese  in 
his  own  person,  being  at  once  Bishop,  Dean,  Prebendary, 
and  Parson. 

To  soften  envy,  he  gave  out  that  he  was  bond  fide 
likely  to  resign  the  Great  Seal  very  soon,  and  that,  at  all 
events.,  he  could  not  possibly  hold  it  more  than  three 
years,  as,  upon  his  suggestion,  the  King  had  laid  down  an 
inflexible  rule  that  in  all  time  coming,  no  one  should  ever 
be  permitted  to  be  Lord  Keeper  or  Lord  Chancellor  for  a 
more  extended  period. 

The  long  vacation  being  spent  in  severe  study,  the  first 
day  of  Michaelmas  term  arrived,  and  he  was  to  take  his 
seat  in  the  Court  of  Chancery.  According  to  ancient 
custom,  he  ought  to  have  rode  to  Westminster  Hall  in 
grand  procession.  Out  of  affected  humility  he  declined 
this  pomp,  perhaps  having  a  certain  misgiving  that  the 
lawyers  from  the  Inns  of  Court  would  not  very  eagerly  join 
it,  and  that  the  nobility  might  not  very  willingly  follow  in 
the  train  of  a  parvenu  as  yet  so  little  distinguished. 
Some  supposed  that,  from  being  so  severe  a  student,  he 
was  not  an  expert  horsemen,  and  that  he  had  apprehen- 
sions of  being  spilt  by  the  way.  He  summoned  the 
Judges,  who  were  under  his  control,  to  meet  him  at  an 
early  hour  in  the  morning  at  the  deanery, — saying  that  he 
declined  all  other  attendance.  With  them  he  passed 
through  the  cloisters  into  the  Abbey,  and  so  on  to  Henry 
VII. 's  chapel.1  There  he  fell  down  on  his  knees,  and  re- 

1  "  Cumque  ibi  in  celeberrimo  Hen.  sept,  sacello  preces  et  orationes  publi- 


144  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.  [1621. 

mained  in  secret  devotion  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  pray- 
ing for  enlightenment  to  perform  the  duties  of  his  new 
office.  Then  rising  up  cheerfully,  as  if  he  had  received  a 
favorable  answer  to  his  petition,  he  walked  at  the  head 
of  the  twelve  Judges,  and  with  no  other  train,  across  Palace 
Yard  and  entered  at  the  North  Gate  of  Westminster  Hall, 
where  curiosity  had  collected  a  great  multitude  of  all 
degrees. 

After  the  oaths  had  been  administered  to  him  he  de- 
livered a  very  long  oration,  of  which  I  can  only  afford  to 
give  some  of  the  more  remarkable  passages :  "  My  Lords 
and  Gentlemen  all,  I  would  to  God  my  former  course  of 
life  had  so  qualified  me  for  this  great  place,  (wherein,  by 
the  will  of  God  and  the  special  favor  of  the  King,  I  am 
for  a  time  to  bestow  myself),  that  I  might  have  fallen  to 
my  business  without  any  further  preface  or  salutation. 
For  my  own  part,  I  am  as  far  from  affecting  this  speech 
as  I  was  from  the  ambition  of  this  place.  But  having 
found  by  private  experience  that  sudden  and  unexpected 
eruptions  put  all  the  world  into  a  gaze  and  wonderment, 
I  thought  it  most  convenient  to  break. the  ice  with  this 
short  deliberation  which  I  will  limit  to  these  two  heads, 
my  calling  and  my  carriage  in  this  place  of  judicature." 
He  goes  on  to  explain  how  he  came  to  be  appointed,  in  a 
manner  not  very  flattering  to  his  legal  auditors : — "A 
resolution  was  formed  to  change  or  reduce  the  Governor 
of  this  Court  from  a  professor  of  our  municipal  laws  to 
some  one  of  the  nobility,  gentry,  or  clergy  of  this  king- 
dom. Of  such  a  conclusion  of  state  (Quiz  aliquando  in- 
cognita semper  just  a)  as  I  dare  not  take  upon  me  to  dis- 
cover the  cause,  so  I  hope  I  shall  not  endure  the  envy.": 

cas  et  privatas  effudisset  Aulam  Westm.,  &c.,  propriis  tantum  famulis  stipatus 
ingressus  est.  Ibi  autem  Dno  custode  circa  horam  nonam  ante  meridianam 
in  Cur.  Cane,  sellam  et  tribunal  conscenso  [he  takes  the  oaths].  Et  cum  pro 
consuetudine  et  more  loci  illustrissimum  Dum  Presidentem  Mag.  Rot.  reli- 
quosque  prime  forme  clericos  sive  cancel,  magros  salutasset  proprio  loco  con- 
sidit.  Et  cum  de  Curiae  istius  scitis  et  plitis  ad  prescriptum  Regni  emendan- 
dis  et  corrigendis  et  aliis  rebus  haud  dissimilihus  oracoem  bene  longam  huis- 
set  Dno  Presidenti  humanissime  valedixit  officiariis  ut  sigillarent  mandavit  et 
se  interim  ad  jurisconsultorum  quesit.  audiend.  simul  et  terminand.  placidc 
composuit." — Cl.  R.  19  Jac.  This  is  the  last  specimen  of  Close  Roll  Latinity 
in  the  history  of  the  Great  Seal — all  the  subsequent  entries  being  in  English. 
1  On  this  passage  Coleridge  in  a  note  passes  the  following  just  censure  : 
"  This  perversion  of  words  respecting  the  decrees  of  Providence  to  the 
caprices  of  James  and  his  beslobbered  minion,  the  Duke  of  Buckingham,  is 
somewhat  nearer  to  blasphemy  than  even  the  euphuism  of  the  age  can  excuse." 


i62i.]  JOHN     WILLIAMS.  145 

He  suggests  that  "the  just  management  of  a  Court  of 
Equity  might  be  impeded  equally  by  too  much  as  too 
little  law,  and  that  the  most  distinguished  of  his  pre- 
decessors, excepting  always  the  mirror  of  the  age  and 
glory  of  the  profession,  his  reverend  Master  (Egerton), 
had  the  commendation  of  the  completest  men,  but  not 
of  the  deepest  lawyers."  He  becomes  bolder  as  he 
advances:1 — "Again,  it  may  be — the  continual  practice 
of  the  strict  law,  without  a  special  mixture  of  other 
knowledge,  makes  a  man  unapt  and  indisposed  for  a 
Court  of  Equity.  Jurisconsidtus  ipse  per  se  nihil  nisi 
leguleius  qui  dam,  cautus  ft  acucfus, — as  much  used  to 
defend  the  wrong  as  to  protect  and  maintain  the  most 
upright  cause.  And  if  any  of  them  should  prove  cor- 
rupt, he  carries  about  him  armatam  neguitiam, — that 
skill  and  cunning  to  palliate  the  same,  so  that  the  mis- 
sentence  which,  pronounced  by  a  plain  and  understanding 
man,  would  appear  most  gross  and  palpable,  by  their 
colors,  quotations,  and  wrenches  of  the  law,  would  be 
made  to  pass  for  current  and  specious.  He  points  out  the 
disadvantage  of  a  Chancellor  having  to  decide  the  causes 
of  his  Tormer  clients,  "  who  to-day  have  for  their  Judge 
him  who  yesterday  was  their  hired  advocate,"  and  he 
plainly  insinuates  (though  he  professes  to  disclaim)  the 
imputation,  "that  a  proneness  to  take  bribes  may  be 
generated  from  the  habit  of  taking  fees."  He  concludes 
this  head  with  a  clumsy  attempt  at  palliation: — "  These 
reasons,  though  they  please  some  men,  yet,  God  be  praised, 
if  we  do  but  right  to  this  noble  profession,  they  are  in  our 
commonwealth  no  way  concluding  or  demonstrative.  For 
I  make  no  question  but  there  are  many  scores  which  pro- 
fess our  laws,  who,  beside  their  skill  and  practice  in  this 
•kind,  are  so  richly  enabled  in  all  moral  and  intellectual 
endowments,  ut  omnia  tanquam  singula  perficiant,  that 
there  is  no  Court  of  Equity  in  the  world  but  might  be 
most  safely  committed  unto  them.  With  respect  to  him- 
self he  affects  a  mixture  of  humility  and  confidence  : — 
"  Surely  if  a  sincere,  upright,  and  well-meaning  heart  doth 
not  cover  thousands  of  other  imperfections,  I  am  the  un- 
fittest  man  in  the  kingdom  to  supply  the  place ;  and 

1  If  Sir  E.  Coke  was  present,  his   feelings   must   have  been   mixed — his 
hatred  of  Bacon  being  at  last  satiated,  but  his  regard  for  the  honor  of  the 
profession  cruelly  wounded. 
in. — 10 


i46  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I. 

therefore  must  say  of  my  creation  as  the  poet  said  of  the 
creation  of  the  world, — Materiam  noli  quizrere,  nulla  fuit. 
Trouble  not  your  head  to  find  out  the  cause.  I  confess 
there  was  none  at  all.  It  was  without  the  least  inclina- 
tion or  thought  of  mine  own  (?) — the  immediate  work  of 
God  and  the  King,  and  their  actions  are  no  ordinary 
effects,  but  extraordinary  miracles." '  From  this  mi- 
raculous touch  he  becomes  as  courageous  as  a  lion  : — 
"  What  then  ?  Should  I  beyond  the  limits  and  duty  of  obe- 
dience despond  and  refuse  to  make  some  few  years'  trial 
in  this  place  ?  Non  habeo  ingenium,  Ccesar  sed  j'ussit, 
habebo.  Cur  me  posse  negem,  posse  quod  ille  putet  ?  I  am  no 
way  fit  for  this  great  place,  but  because  God  and  the  King 
will  have  it  so,  1  will  endeavor  as  much  as  I  can  to  make 
myself  fit,  and  place  my  whole  confidence  in  his  grace  and 
mercy, — Qui  neminem  dignum  eligit,  sed  eligendo  dignum 
facit"  He  then  goes  on  with  better  taste  to  confess  his 
disadvantage  in  coming  after  two  such  men  as  Egerton 
and  Bacon, — "  one  of  them  excelling  in  most  things, — the 
other  in  all  things, — both  of  them  so  bred  in  this  course 
of  life,  ut  illis  plurimarum  rerum  agitatio  frequens  niJiil 
esse  ignotum  patiebatur  ;"  adding  rather  felicitously,  "  My 
comfort  is  this,  that  arriving  here  as  a  stranger,  I  may  say, 
as  Archimedes  did  when  he  found  geometrical  lines  and 
angles  drawn  every  where  in  the  sands  of  Egypt,  Video 
vestigia  Jiumana,  I  see  in  this  Court  the  footsteps  of  wise 
men,  many  excellent  rules  and  orders  which  though  I 
might  want  learning  and  knowledge  to  invent,  I  hope  I 
shall  not  want  honesty  to  act  upon."  He  next  lays  down 
certain  principles  by  which  he  is  to  be  governed,  professing 
great  respect  for  the  common  law,  and  laughing  at  the 
equitable  doctrine,  "  that  sureties  are  to  be  favored ;"  for, 
says  he,  "  When  the  money  is  to  be  borrowed,  the  surety 
is  the  first  in  the  intention,  and  therefore  if  it  be  not  paid 
let  him  a  God's  name  be  the  first  in  the  execution."  He 
thus  not  ungracefully  concluded  : — "  I  will  propound  my 
old  master  for  my  pattern  and  precedent  in  all  things — 
beseeching  Almighty  God  so  to  direct  me  that  while  I 
hold  this  place  I  may  follow  him  by  a  true  and  constant 
imitation  ;  and  if  I  prove  unfit,  that  I  may  not  play  the 

1  There  can  be  nothing  more  revolting  than  the  language  of  English 
divines  during  the  seventeenth  century,  who  frequently  put  the  King  nearly, 
if  not  altogether,  on  a  footing  with  Almighty  God. 


i62i.J  JOHN     WILLIAMS.  147 

mountebank  so  in  this  place  as  to  abuse  the  King  and  the 
state,  but  follow  the  same  most  worthy  Lord  in  his 
cheerful  and  voluntary  resignation,  Sic  mihi  contingat 
vivere,  sicque  mori"  l 


CHAPTER  LVIII. 

CONTINUATION   OF  THE   LIFE  OF  LORD  KEEPER  WILLIAMS 
TILL  THE  END  OF  THE  REIGN  OF  JAMES  I. 

THE  Lord  Keeper  now  set  to  work  with  stupendous 
energy   and  \vith  consummate  discretion.     By  in- 
cessant reading  and  conversation  with  Finch  and 
the  officers  of  the  Court,  he  had  got  some  little  insight 
into  its  rules  and  practice  ;  he  never  sat  in  public  without 
the  assistance  of  the  Master  of  the  Rolls,  or  some  of  the 
Common-law  Judges  supposed  to  be  most  familiar  with 
equity;  and  although   he   ostensibly  delivered  the  judg- 
ment, he  took  care  to   be  decorously  prompted  by  those 
on  whom  he  could  rely. 

In  spite  of  his  great  caution  he  could  not  avoid  some- 
times misapplying  technical  terms,  and  causing  a  titter 
among  the  lawyers,  who  viewed  him  with  no  favor.2  One 
morning,  when  his  Honor,  the  Master  of  the  Rolls,  who 
had*  been  expected,  was  by  sudden  illness  detained  at 
home,  a  wag  at  the  bar  had  the  impudence  to  attempt  a 
practical  joke  upon  the  Right  Reverend  the  Lord  Keeper. 
When  called  to,  the  wicked  counsellor  rose  demurely,  and 
pretending  to  look  at  his  brief,  made  a  sham  motion, — 
which  seems  to  have  been  somewhat  like  that  mentioned 
in  the  Life  of  Lord  Eldon,  for  a  writ, — "  Quare  adhcesit 
pavimento"  The  exact  terms  of  this  motion  are  not  men- 
tioned by  any  Reporter,  but  we  are  told  on  undoubted 
authority  that  it  was  "  crammed  like  a  grenade  with  ob- 
solete words,  coins  of  far-fetched  antiquity,  which  had 
been  long  disused,  worse  than  Sir  Thomas  More's  "  An 
averia  carucce  capta  in  withernam  sint  irreplegiabilia" 

1  Hacket,  71-74. 

2  Hacket   explains   their   dislike   of  him   into   envy,    comparing   them  to 
"  Joseph's  brethren,  who  hated  the  very  dream  of  a  sheaf  to  which  they  must 
do  obeysance." — p.  60. 


I48  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    7.         [1621. 

With  these  misty  and  recondite  phrases  he  thought  to 
leave  the  new  Judge  groping  about  in  the  dark."  Williams 
discovered  the  trick,  and,  notwithstanding  his  Welsh 
blood,  he  preserved  his  temper.  "  With  a  serious  face 
the  Lord  Keeper  answered  him  in  a  cluster  of  most 
crabbed  notions  picked  out  of  metaphysics  and  logic,  as 
"  categorematical"  and  "  syncategorematical"  and  a  deal  of 
such  drumming  stuff,  that  the  motioner,  being  foiled  at 
his  own  weapon,  and  well  laughed  at  in  the  Court,  went 
home  with  this  new  lesson — that  he  that  tempts  a  wise  man 
in  jest  shall  make  himself  a  fool  in  earnest" 

The  account  we  have  of  his  industry  shames  the  most 
industrious  men  of  this  degenerate  age.  He  entered  the 
Court  of  Chancery  in  the  winter  time  by  candle-light  be- 
tween six  and  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning.  Having  sat 
there  two  hours,  he  went  to  the  House  of  Lords  between 
eight  and  nine,  where  the  Prince  and  the  Peers  were  as- 
sembled, expecting  him  to  take  his  place  on  the  woolsack. 
There  he  continued  propounding  and  discussing  the  ques- 
tions which  arose  till  twelve  at  noon,  everyday,  and  when 
there  was  a  late  debate,  till  past  one  in  the  afternoon.  Going 
to  the  Deanery,  he  refreshed  himself  with  a  short  repast, 
and  then  returned  to  the  Court  of  Chancery  to  hear  pe- 
titions and  causes  which  he  had  not  been  able  to  dispatch 
in  the  morning.  Coming  home  about  eight  in  the  evening 
he  perused  such  letters  and  papers  as  his  secretaries  had 
prepared  for  him, — and  after  that,  far  in  the  night,  he 
prepared  himself  for  so  much  as  concerned  him  to  have 
in  readiness  for  the  Lords'  House  in  the  morning.  His 
attendances  in  the  Star  Chamber  and  at  the  council-table 
did  not  interfere  with  the  business  of  the  Court  of  Chan- 
cery,—-where  he  always  attended  two  hours  early  in  the 
morning  before  going  elsewhere.  He  is  said  to  have 
decided  five  or  six  causes  in  a  morning,  according  to  the 
quality  and  measure  of  the  points  that  came  to  be  debated 
in  them,  and  that  he  might  make  others  industrious  and 
punctual  like  himself,  two  or  three  afternoons  in  every 
week  he  had  a  peremptory  paper  consisting  of  cases  that 
had  been  long  depending,  and  that  he  himself  appointed 
to  be  heard  at  all  events,  and,  if  possible,  finally  disposed 
of.  He  is  a  striking  instance  of  what  may  be  accomplished 
without  genius  by  industry.  "  Industry,  I  think,"  says 

1  Racket,  75. 


1621.]  JOHN     WILLIAMS.  149. 

his  secretary,  "  was  his  recreation, — for  certain  he  had  not 
a  drop  of  lazy  blood  in  his  veins.  He  filled  up  every  hour 
of  the  day,  and  a  good  part  of  the  night  with  the  dispatch 
of  some  public  and  necessary  business."  : 

Thus  energetic  and  thus  assisted,  notwithstanding  his 
inexperience  and  ignorance  as  a  Judge,  he  got  on  marvel- 
ously  well,  and  all  the  causes,  petitions,  and  motions  were 
disposed  of  without  any  public  clamor.  As  yet  the  pro- 
ceedings in  Chancery  were  not  reported,  precedent  not 
being  considered  binding  there,  as  in  other  Courts,  and 
none  of  his  decisions  have  been  preserved  to  us.  But  as 
there  were  several  sessions  of  parliament  while  he  held 
the  Great  Seal,  and  there  does  not  appear  to  have  been 
any  complaint  against  him  except  in  one  instance,  which 
was  without  foundation,"  we  are  bound  to  believe  that,  in 
spite  of  all  the  objections  reasonably  made  to  his  appoint- 
ment, he  gave  satisfaction  to  the  public.3 

At  all  events  he  satisfied  himself.  On  the  loth  of  July, 
1622,  the  anniversary  of  his  receiving  the  Seal,  he  thus 
wrote  to  Buckingham.  "  In  this  place  I  have  now  served 
his  Majesty  one  whole  year  diligently  and  honestly.  But 
to  my  heart's  grief,  by  reason  of  my  rawness  and  inex- 
perience, very  unprofitably.  Yet,  if  his  Majesty  will  ex- 
amine the  registers,  there  will  be  found  more  causes  finally 
ended  this  one  year  than  in  all  the  seven  years  preceding. 
How  well  ended,  I  ingenuously  confess,  I  know  not. 
His  Majesty  and  your  Lordship  (who,  no  doubt,  have 
received  some  complaints,  though  in  your  love  you  con- 
ceal them  from  me)  are  in  that  the  most  competent 
judges." 

He  and  his  friends  suggested  that  it  was  by  some  sort 
of  miraculous  influence  that  he  performed  so  well  ;  but 
the  miracle  is  solved  in  his  judiciously  availing  himself 
of  the  knowledge  and  skill  of  others.  His  assessors  may 
truly  be  considered  the  Lords  Commissioners  of  the  Great 
Seal  while  he  held  it ;  and  his  great  merit  was,  that  he 
steadily  kept  them  to  their  work. 

He  seems  from  his  own  resources  to  have  done  his  duty 
creditably  in  the  House  of  Lords.  Parliament  met  in 
November,  1621.  He  had  then  to  address  the  two  Houses, 
in  the  absence  of  the  King,  who  was  indisposed.  This 

1  Racket,  76.  *  Sir  John  Bouchier's  case,  post. 

3  Quod  nemo  noverit  tcene  non  Jit. 


i5o  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    7.  [1621. 

speech  was  well  seasoned  with  divine  right  and  passive 
obedience,  and  we  have  this  account  of  it  in  a  letter 
written  to  him  next  day  by  Buckingham.  "  I  know  not 
how  the  Upper  House  of  Parliament  approve  your  Lord- 
ship's speech.  But  I  am  sure  he  that  called  them  together, 
and  as  I  think  can  best  judge  of  it,  is  so  taken  with  it, 
that  he  saith  it  is  the  best  that  ever  he  heard  in  Parlia- 
ment, and  the  nearest  to  his  Majesty's  meaning ;  which, 
beside  the  contentment  it  hath  given  to  his  Majesty, 
hath  much  comforted  me  in  his  choice  of  your  Lord- 
ship, which  in  all  things  doth  so  well  answer  his  expecta- 
tion." ' 

But  the  speech  excited  violent  murmurs  against  the 
speaker  and  the  whole  order  to  which  he  belonged.  A 
few  days  after,  during  a  protracted  debate  respecting 
oaths,  an  aged  Bishop,  very  infirm  in  health,  begged  per- 
mission to  withdraw, — which  then  seems  to  have  been  nec- 
essary before  a  member  could  be  absent  from  the  division. 
Thereupon  several  Lords,  who  are  said  to  have  "  borne  a 
grudge  to  that  apostolic  order,"  cried  out,  that  "  they 
might  all  go  home  if  they  would ;"  and  the  Earl  of 
Essex,  the  future  leader  of  the  parliamentary  army, — then 
a  hot-headed  young  man  who  had  just  taken  his  seat, — 
make  a  formal  motion,  which  he  required  to  be  put  from 
the  woolsack  and  entered  on  the  journals,  "that  their 
Lordships  were  content  to  open  their  doors  wide  to  let 
out  all  Bishops."  The  Lord  Keeper,  who  perceived  that 
this  blow  was  aimed  at  himself,  "  replied  with  a  prudent 
animosity,  that  he  would  not  put  the  question  even  if 
commanded  by  the  House,  for  their  Lordships,  as  well 
spiritual  as  temporal,  were  called  by  the  King's  writ  to 
sit  and  abide^  there  till  the  same  power  dissolved  them, 
and  for  my  Lords  temporal,  they  had  no  power  to 
license  themselves,  much  less  to  authorize  others  to  de- 
part from  the  Parliament."  This  spirited  conduct  quelled 
the  disturbance,  and  the  debate  was  allowed  quietly  to 
proceed  ;  but  Williams  lived  to  see  the  day  when  he  in- 
effectually opposed  a  bill  for  preventing  the  Bishops  from 
sitting  in  the  House  of  Lords,  and  he  had  the  mortifica- 
tion to  find  that  this  bill,  after  passing  both  Houses,  re- 
ceived the  royal  assent. 

The  only  other  proceeding  in  which  he  was  personally 

1  I  Parl.  Hist.  1295. 


1 62 1.]  JOHN     WILLIAMS.  151 

concerned  during  this  session,  was  upon  a  petition  pre- 
sented to  the  House  of  Lords  by  Sir  John  Bouchier,  com- 
plaining that  he  had  given  judgment  against  the  petitioner 
in  the  Court  of  Chancery  without  allowing  his  counsel  to 
speak.  The  case  was  heard  for  several  days  at  the  bar, — 
when  it  turned  out  that  the  complaint  was  entirely  un- 
founded, as,  after  ample  discussion,  the  decree  had  been 
pronounced  on  the  advice  of  the  Master  of  the  Rolls,  Mr. 
Justice  Hutton,  and  Mr.  Justice  Chamberlayne. 

The  Lords  determined  that,  for  this  false  charge  against 
the  Lord  Keeper,  Sir  John  Bouchier  should  be  im- 
prisoned, and  that  he  should  make  an  acknowledgment 
in  their  House,  and  in  Chancery,  of  his  faults.  But  the 
Lord  Keeper  saying  that  Sir  John  had  behaved  tem- 
perately in  Chancery',  besought  a  remission  of  the  acknowl- 
edgment of  his  fault  in  that  Court,  and  also  of  his  im- 
prisonment. The  Lords  highly  commended  the  Lord 
Keeper's  clemency,  and  remitted  both.  Then  Sir  John 
being  brought  to  the  bar,  and  his  acknowledgment,  ready 
drawn  up,  being  delivered  to  him,  he  kneeling,  said,  "  My 
Lords,  in  obedience  to  the  judgment  of  this  House,  I 
humbly  submit  myself.  Whereas  by  the  honorable  sen- 
tence of  the  Lords  spiritual  and  temporal,  I  stand  con- 
victed of  a  great  misdemeanor,  for  taxing  and  laying^an 
imputation  on  the  Lord  Keeper  of  the  Great  Seal  of  Eng- 
land, I  do  in  all  humbleness  acknowledge  the  justice  of 
their  sentence,  and  also  my  own  fault  and  offense,  and 
am  heartily  sorry  therefor,  and  do  crave  pardon  both  of 
your  Lordships  in  general,  and  of  the  Lord  Keeper  in 
particular."1 — On  account  of  a  quarrel  with  the  House  of 
Commons  this  parliament  was  soon  after  dissolved  by 
proclamation;  and  by  an  order  of  Council,  in  which  the 
Lord  Keeper  concurred,  Sir  Edward  Coke,  Sir  Robert 
Phillips,  Mr.  Selden,  Mr.  Prynne,  and  several  other 
leaders  of  the  opposition  party  were  committed  to  prison. 

About  this  time  he  was  instrumental  in  the  promotion 
of  a  man  v/ho  afterwards  turned  out  to  be  his  greatest 
enemy.  Buckingham  wished  to  appoint  Laud,  one  of  the 
King's  chaplains,  whom  he  had  found  very  useful  on 
several  occasions,  to  the  Bishopric  of  St.  David's ;  but 
most  unexpectedly  James  demurred,  on  account  of  some 

1  I  Parl.  Hist.  1364. 


i52  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.  [1622. 

trouble  caused  to  him  from  the  ultra  high  church  prin- 
ciples of  this  divine,  in  attempting  to  introduce  episcopacy 
into  Scotland.  The  Lord  Keeper  seeking  to  remove 
these  scruples,  the  King  said  to  him  :  "  I  perceive  whose 
messenger  you  are ;  Stenny  hath  set  you  on.  The  plain 
truth  is,  that  I  keep  Laud  back  from  all  place  of  rule  and 
authority,  because  I  find  he  hath  a  restless  spirit,  and  can 
not  see  when  matters  are  well,  but  loves  to  toss  and 
change,  and  to  bring  things  to  a  pitch  of  reformation  float- 
ing in  his  own  brain.  I  speak  not  at  random ;  h.6  hath 
made  himself  known  to  me  to  be  such  a  one."  The  Lord 
Keeper  allowed  that  this  was  a  great  fault,  which  might 
make  Laud  to  be  lightened  to  Cams  Gracchus  qui  nihil 
immotum,  nihil  tranquillum,  nihil  quietum,  nihil  denique  in 
eodem  statu  relinquebat ; — but  undertook  that  it  should 
be  cured  in  time  to  come.  "  Then  take  him,"  said  the 
King,  "  but  on  my  saul,  you  will  repent  it." 

We  now  come  to  an  affair  in  which  Williams  acted  an 
exceedingly  ungenerous  part.  Abbot,  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  when  shooting  at  a  deer  with  a  cross-bow, 
had  accidently  killed  a  keeper  in  Lord  Zouch's  park. 
Williams,  on  hearing  of  this  calamity,  instead  of  eagerly 
assisting  in  averting  its  consequences,  and  comforting  the 
afflicted  metropolitan,  thought  it  an  opportnnity  of  raising 
himself  to  the  highest  ecclesiastical  as  well  as  civil  dignity, 
and  wrote  the  following  mean  and  cunning  letter  to  be 
laid  before  the  King: 

"  My  Lord's  Grace,  upon  this  accident,  is,  by  the  com- 
mon law  of  England,  to  forfeit  all  his  estate  to  his  Maj- 
esty, and  by  the  canon  law,  which  is  in  force  with  us, 
'  irregular '  ipso  facto,  and  so  suspended  from  all  ecclesi- 
astical function,  until  he  be  again  restored  by  his  superior, 
which,  I  take  it,  is  the  King's  Majesty  in  this  rank  and 
order  of  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction.  I  wish  with  all  my 
heart,  his  Majesty  would  be  as  merciful  as  ever  he  was  in 
all  his  life.  But  yet  I  hold  it  my  duty  to  let  his  Majesty 
know,  that  his  Majesty  is  fallen  upon  a  matter  of  great 
advice  and  deliberation.  To  add  affliction  to  the  afflicted, 
as  no  doubt  he  is  in  mind,  is  against  the  King's  nature. 
To  leave  a  man  of  blood,  Primate  and  Patriarch  of  all  his 
churches,  is  a  thing  that  sounds  very  harsh  in  the  old 
councils  and  canons  of  the  Church.  The  Papists  will  not 
spare  to  descant  upon  the  one  and  the  other.  I  leave  the 


1 62  2.]  JOHN     WILLIAMS.  153 

knot  to  his  Majesty's  deep  wisdom  to  advise  and  resolve 
upon." 

The  Archbishop's  friends  quoted  the  maxims,  "  Actus 
non  facit  reum,  nisi  mens  sit  rea,"  and  "  omne  peccatum  in 
tantum  est  peccatum  in  quantum  est  voluntarium  /"  and  it 
being  argued  against  him,  that  if  one  acting  in  indebitd 
materid  kills  a  man  involuntarily,  it  is  to  be  gathered  that 
God  gave  him  up  to  that  mischance,  that  he  might  be 
disciplined  by  the  censure  of  the  church, — they  replied, 
that  hunting  was  no  unpriestly  sport  by  the  laws  of  Eng- 
land,— for  every  Peer  in  the  higher  House  of  Parliament, 
as  well  Lords  spiritual  and  temporal,  hath  permission  by 
the  Charta  de  Foresta,  when,  after  summons,  he  is  on  his 
journey  to  parliament,  and  travels  through  the  King's 
forests,  to  cause  a  horn  to  be  sounded,  and  to  kill  a  brace 
of  bucks  for  his  sustentation. 

To  decide  this  knotty  point,  a  commission  was  directed 
to^ten  Bishops,  common-law  Judges,  and  civilians — the 
Lord  Keeper  being  chief  commissioner.  They  were 
equally  divided  on  the  question,  "  whether  the  Archbishop 
was  '  irregular '  by  the  fact  of  involuntary  homicide?" 
But  a  majority  held  that <%  the  act  might  tend  to  a  scandal 
in  a  churchman,"  the  Lord  Keeper  on  both  questioas, 
voting  against  the  Archbishop. 

This  intrigue  was  counteracted  by  the  general  sympathy 
in  favor  of  the  Archbishop, — and  the  King  in  due  form, 
"  assoiled  him  from  all  irregularity,  scandal,  or  infamation, 
pronouncing  him  to  be  capable  to  use  all  metropolitical 
authority  as  if  that  sinistrous  contingency  of  spilling 
blood  had  never  happened." 

The  Lord  Keeper's  consecration  as  Bishop  of  Lincoln 
had  been  delayed  by  these  proceedings, — and  now,  from 
disappointment  and  spleen,  under  pretense  that  the  effic- 
acy of  the  Archbishop's  ministration  might  still  be  ques- 
tioned, he  obtained  a  license  from  the  King  that  he  might 
still  be  consecrated  by  the  Bishops  of  London,  Worcester, 
Ely,  Oxford,  and  Llandaff.1 

The  followingyear  was  memorable  by  the  romantic  jour- 
ney of  the  Prince  and  Buckingham  to  Spain.  While  at  Mad- 
rid, Charles,  to  please  his  mistress  and  the  Spanish  Court, 
wrote  a  letter  to  the  Lord  Keeper,  praying  that  he  would 
do  all  in  his  power  to  mitigate  the  execution  of  the 
1  2  St.  Tr.  1160. 


154  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.          [1623. 

penal  laws  against  Roman  Catholics,  to  which  the  follow- 
ing courtly  answer  was  returned  : — 

"  I  would  I  had  any  abilities  to  serve  your  Highness  in 
this  place  wherein  you  have  set  me,  and  your  grace 
and  favor  have  countenanced  and  encouraged  me. 
To  observe  your  Highness's  commands,  I  am  sure 
the  Spanish  ambassador  resiant  must  testify,  that  since 
your  Highness's  departure  he  hath  been  denied  no  one  re- 
quest for  expedition  of  justice  or  care  of  Catholics,  although 
I  usually  hear  from  him  twice  or  thrice  a  week  ;  which  I 
observe  the  more  superstitiously,  that  he  might  take 
knowledge  how  sensible  we  are  of  any  honor  done  to  your 
Highness.  And  yet,  in  the  relaxation  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  penalties,  I  keep  off  the  King  from  appearing  in 
it  as  much  as  I  can,  and  take  all  upon  myself,  as  I  believe 
every  servant  of  his  ought  to  do  in  such  negotiations,  the 
events  whereof  be  hazardous  and  uncertain."  ' 

The  town  was  meanwhile  amused  by  a  call  of  Sergeants, 
a  memorable  event  in  those  days.  No  fewer  than  thirteen 
jointly  received  the  honor  of  the  coif,  and  the  Lord  Keeper 
addressed  them  in  a  very  long  and  tedious  speech, 
which  he  thus  sought  to  enliven  :  "Your  great  and  sump- 
tuous feast  is  like  that  of  a  King's  coronation,  at  which 
you  entertain  the  ambassadors  of  foreign  Kings  now  resi- 
dent about  the  city,  and  the  prime  officers  and  nobility 
of  this  realm.  King  Henry  VII.,  in  his  own  person,  did 
grace  the  Sergeants'  feast,  held  then  at  Ely  Place,  in  Hoi- 
born,  I  should  be  too  long  if  I  should  speak  of  the  ornament 

1  The  high  church  party  afterwards  invented  a  story  that  at  this  time  the 
Lord  Keeper  wished  to  be  reconciled  to  the  Church  of  Rome,  and  through 
Buckingham's  interest  at  the  Court  of  Spain,  to  be  made  a  cardinal.  In  the 
autograph  MS.  of  Robert,  Earl  of  Leicester,  preserved  in  the  British  Museum, 
there  is  the  following  entry  :  "  Att  Yorke,  2qth  April,  1639.  Being  at  dinner, 
at  Sir  John  Melton's,  where  I  lay,  La  Chamberlain,  the  Earle  of  Holland 
present  (but  I  thinke  he  heard  it  not),  Mr.  Endymion  Porter,  Groome  of 
ye  Bedchamber,  told  me  that  he  knewe  the  Bp.  of  Lincolne,  Williams,  since 
ArchbP  of  Yorke  (then  in  trouble),  when  he  was  in  favor,  and  Ld  Keeper 
\vd  have  bin  a  Cardinall,  and  made  all  the  meanes  he  could  to  attaine  unto  it, 
by  my  Lorde  of  Buckingham's  power,  during  the  treaty  of  the  match  with 
Spaine ;  at  which  time  Porter  was  the  D.  of  Buckingham's  servant,  and  in 
greate  favor  with  him.  '  This,'  sayd  Porter,  '  is  true  upon  my  knowledge,  or 
else  God  refuse  me  !  and  I  wish  this  piece  of  bread  may  choke  me,  which  I 
hope  you  believe  I  would  not  say  if  I  did  not  know  it !'  One  may  see  by 
this  what  an  excellent  conscience  that  Byshop  hath  who  wd  have  bin  a  Cardi- 
nall ;  while  he  was  in  favor  nothing  els  would  satisfie  his  ambition  ;  and. 
being  in  disgrace,  he  betakes  himself  to  the  Puritan  party." — Blencowe's 
Sydney  Papers,  p.  261. 


1623.]  JOHN     WILLIAMS.  155 

of  your  head,  your  pure  linen  coif,  which  evidences  that 
you  are  candidates  of  higher  honor.  So  likewise  your 
librata  magna,  your  abundance  of  cloth  and  liveries,  your 
purple  habits^  belonging  anciently  to  great  senators,  yea, 
to  emperors  ;  all  these  and  more  are  but  as  so  many  flags 
and  ensigns  to  call  up  those  young  students  that  fight  in 
the  valleys  to  those  hills  and  mountains  of  honor  which 
you  by  your  merits  have  now  achieved. 


-"  '  Neque  enim  virtutem  amplectimur  ipsam, 


Praemia  si  tollas." : 

But  more  serious  scenes  were  at  hand.  On  Bucking- 
ham's return  from  Spain,  he  found  that  the  Lord  Keeper 
and  Cranfield,  the  Lord  Treasurer,  created  Earl  of  Middle- 
sex, had  been  intriguing  against  him  in  his  absence,  and 
had  been  trying  to  supplant  him  in  the  King's  favor. 
Having  re-established  his  ascendency  he  vowed  revenge, 
and  trusting  to  the  popularity  he  contrived  to  gather  from 
breaking  off  the  Spanish  match,  he  resolved  to  call  a  par- 
liament, and  he  managed  to  get  a  number  of  petitions 
ready  to  be  presented  to  the  two  Houses,  charging  the 
Treasurer  and  the  Lord  Keeper  respectively  with  malver- 
sation in  their  offices.  Williams,  excessively  alarmed, 
eagerly  sought  for  a  reconciliation  with  Buckingham,  so- 
licited the  intercession  of  the  Prince  before  parliament 
actually -assembled,  made  his  submission  in  person  to  the 
haughty  chief,  and  received  this  cold  yet  consolatory  an- 
swer, "  I  will  not  seek  your  ruin,  though  I  shall  cease  to 
study  your  fortune." 

The  meeting  of  parliament  was  postponed  for  a  week 
by  the  sudden  death  of  the  Duke  of  Lennox,  the  Lord 
Steward.  As  the  royal  procession  was  about  to  move  from 
Whitehall  to  the  House  of  Peers,  "  The  King  looked 
round  and  missed  him,"  says  Bishop  Hacket ;  "  he  was 
absent  indeed  ;  absent  from  the  body  and  present  with 
God."  The  Lord  Keeper  preached  his  funeral  sermon  to 
the  admiration  of  the  Court,  from  the  text,  "  Zabud, 
the  son  of  Nathan,  was  principal  officer,  and  the  King's 
friend."  2 

1  On  which  Jekyll  made  the  following  epigram  : — 
"  The  sergeants  are  a  grateful  race, 

Their  dress  and  speeches  show  it, 
Their  purple  robes  from  Tyre  we  trace 

Their  arguments  go  to  it." 
*  I  Kings,  iv.  5.     This  union  of  duties  reminds  me  of  a  question  put  to 


156  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I,          [1624. 

At  last,  on  the  I9th  of  February,  1624,  the  King,  seated 
on  his  throne,  delivered  a  long  speech  to  the  two  Houses, 
explaining  to  them  what  had  happened  during  the  two 
years  when  there  had  been  no  parliament,  particularly 
respecting  the  Palatinate  and  his  son's  marriage, — desiring 
them  in  the  words  of  St.  Paul,  to  "  beware  of  genealogies 
and  curious  questions,  and  not  to  let  any  stir  them  up  to 
law  questions,  debates,  quirks,  tricks,  and  jerks." ' 

According  to  the  usage  of  the  age,  the  Lord  Keeper 
ought  to  have  followed  in  the  same  strain  ;  but  he  thus 
excused  himself:  "  A  Lacedemonian  being  invited  to  hear 
a  man  that  could  counterfeit  very  well  the  notes  of  a 
nightingale,  put  him  off  with  these  words,  avrrj?  rjKovaa, 
I  have  heard  the  nightingale  herself.  And  why  should 
you  be  troubled  with  the  croaking  of  a  Chancellor  that 
have  heard  the  loving  expressions  of  a  most  eloquent 
King?  And  indeed,  for  me  to  gloss  upon  his  Majesty's 
speech  were  nothing  else  than  it  is  in  the  Satyr,  Annulum 
aureum  ferreis  stellis  ferruminare,  to  enamel  a  ring  of 
pure  gold  with  stars  of  iron.  I  know  his  Majesty's  grave 
and  weighty  sentences  have  left,  as  ^Eschines's  orations 
were  wont  to  do,  ro  nevrpov,  a  kind  of  freck  or  sting  in 
the  hearts  and  minds  of  all  the  hearers.  It  is  not  fit  that, 
with  my  rude  fumbling,  I  should  unsettle  or  discompose 
his  elegancies.  For,  as  Pliny  observes  of  Nerva,  that 
when  he  had  adopted  the  Emperor  Trajan,  he  was  taken 
away  forthwith,  and  never  did  any  public  act  after  it,  ne 
post  illud  divinum  et  immortal*  factum  aliquid  mortale 
faceret,  lest,  after  so  transcendent  and  divine  an  act,  he 
should  commit  any  thing  might  relish  of  mortality;  so  it 
is  fit  that  the  judicious  ears  of  these  noble  hearers  be  no 
further  troubled  this  day,  nequid  post  illud  divinum  et  im- 
mortale  dictum  mortale  audirent"  He  therefore  con- 
fined himself  to  desiring  the  Commons  to  retire  and 
choose  a  Speaker." 

Sergeant  Crewe  being  presented  as  Speaker  on  a  sub- 
sequent day,  and  having  disqualified  himself,  the  Lord 
Keeper  said  "  His  Majesty  doth  observe  that  in  you, 

Mr.  Justice  Buller,  who  used  often  to  sit  for  Lord  Chancellor  Thurlow  : — 
"  When  do^you  preach  for  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  ?"  Thurlow  used 
to  soy :  "  Buller  knows  no  more  of  equity  than  a  horse,  but  he  gets  through 
the  causes,  and  I  hear  no  more  of  them." 

1  I  Parl.  Hist.  1373.  *  i  Parl.  Hist.  1378.     Hacket,  i.  175. 


1624.]  JOHN     WILLIAMS.  157 

which  Gorgias  the  philosopher  did  in  Plato,  quod  in 
orator 'thus  irridendis  ipse  esse  orator  summus  videbatur"  ' 

The  Speaker  then  delivered  a  very  long  speech  to  the 
King,  and  the  Lord  Keeper,  after  having  conferred  a 
quarter  of  an  hour  with  his  Majesty,  answered  it  at  equal 
length,  saying,  among  many  things  equally  fine,  "  You 
have  heard  his  Majesty's  similie  touching  a  skillful  horse- 
man, which  in  Zechariah  is  God's  similie.  Kings  are  like 
riders;  the  commonwealth  is  the  horse,  and  the  law  is 
the  bridle,  which  must  be  held  always  with  a  sure  hand, 
not  always  with  a  hard  hand ;  but  aliquando  remittit 
fcrire  eques  non  amittat  habenas.  Yet  if  Hagar  grow  in- 
solent, '  cast  out  the  bondswoman  and  her  son ;'  his 
Majesty's  resolution  is,  '  that  the  son  of  the  bondswoman 
shall  never  inherit  with  the  son  of  the  free.'  "  He  con- 
cludes with  a  compliment  to  Buckingham,  the  Lord  High 
Admiral,  whom  he  feared  much  more  than  him  he  so 
profanely  likened  to  the  Divinity.  "  The  wooden  walls 
of  "this  kingdom,  the  navy,  are  truly  his  Majesty's  special 
care ;  and  as  the  carver  who  beautified  Diana's  temple, 
though  it  was  at  the  cost  of  other  men,  yet  was  al- 
lowed in  divers  places  to  stamp  his  own  name,  so  it  can 
not  be  denied  but  that  noble  Lord  who  has  now  spent 
seven  years'  study,  and  has  become  a  master  in  that  art, 
may  grave  his  name  upon  his  works,  yet  a  fitting  distance 
from  his  master's."1 

The  petitions  against  the  Lord  Keeper  as  well  as 
against  the  Lord  Treasurer  were  presented ;  but  the  for- 
mer by  the  great  zeal  he  displayed  both  in  a  committee 
and  in  the  full  House  in  supporting  Buckingham  about 
the  negotiations  with  Spain,  earned  and  received  forgive- 
ness,— although  a  suspicion  of  his  fidelity  remained  which 
led  to  his  dismissal  early  in  the  next  reign.  Middlesex 
being  more  stubborn,  and  foolishly  trusting  in  his  own  in- 
nocence, was  made  a  present  victim  to  the  resentment  of 
the  favorite. 

He  was  impeached  on  charges  of  peculation  and  cor- 
ruption,3 which  were  imperfectly  established,  and  he  was 
not  allowed  the  benefit  of  counsel,  although  several 
eminent  lawyers,  members  of  the  House  of  Commons, 

"  Swift  for  the  ANCIENTS  has  reason'd  so  well, 

"Tis  apparent  from  hence  that  the  MODERNS  excel." 
*  I  Parl  Hist.  1379.  3  2  St.  Tr.  1184,  1245. 


158  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.  [1624. 

conducted  the  prosecution  against  him.  Being  found 
guilty,  the  Lord  Keeper,  the  associate  in  his  real  offense, 
pronounced  sentence  against  him,  "  that  he  should  lose  all 
his  offices,  should  thereafter  be  incapable  to  hold  any 
office,  place  or  employment,  should  be  imprisoned  in  the 
Tower  during  the  King's  pleasure,  should  pay  a  fine  of 
^"50,000.,  should  be  disqualified  to  sit  in  parliament,  and 
should  never  come  within  the  verge  of  the  Court." ' 

But  the  Lord  Keeper,  not  quite  sure  when  his  own  turn 
might  come, — under  color  of  compassionating  the  hard- 
ships of  which  Middlesex  had  complained  in  his  trial,  pre- 
vailed on  the  Lords  to  pass  a  resolution,  that  in  all  sub- 
sequent impeachments  for  misdemeanor  the  accused 
should  be  furnished  with  copies  of  the  depositions,  and 
should  be  allowed  the  aid  of  counsel.1 

The  petitions  against  the  Lord  Keeper  were  suffered  to 
lie  dormant  till  the  end  of  the  session,  when  the  Com- 
mittee to  whom  they  were  referred  reported,  "  that  of 
those  which  had  been  examined  some  were  groundless  in 
fact,  and  the  others  furnished  no  matter  for  a  criminal 
charge."  Morley,  one  of  the  petitoners,  who  had  com- 
plained of  the  Lord  Keeper  for  some  indirect  practice 
against  him  in  the  Star  Chamber,  and  had  printed  and  cir- 
culated his  petition,  was  committed  to  the  Fleet,  fined 
.£1,000,  ordered  to  stand  in  the  pillory  with  a  copy  of  the 
petition  on  his  head,  and  to  make  acknowledgment  of  his 
fault  to  the  Lord  Keeper  at  the  bar  of  the  House  and  in 
the  Court  of  Chancery.2 

Williams  regained,  to  a  certain  degree,  the  good  graces 
of  Buckingham,  by  skillfully  discovering  and  counteracting 
a  plot  against  him.  Ynoiosa  and  Coloma,  the  Spanish 
ambassadors,  having  been  long  carefully  prevented  from 
having  any  personal  communication  with  the  King,  at 
last  contrived  to  deliver  to  him  privately  a  letter,  des- 
cribing him  as  a  prisoner  in  his  own  palace,  and  offering 
to  communicate  important  information  to  him.  In  con- 
sequence, Carendolet,  the  secretary  of  legation,  was  ad- 
mitted to  a  secret  interview  with  James,  and  stated 

1  When  this  sentence  was  exultingly  reported  to  the  King  by  Buckingham 
and  the  Prince,  who  had  procured  it,  he  prophetically  said  to  the  one,  "  You 
are  making  a  rod  for  your  own  breech  ;"  and  to  the  other,  "  You  will  yet  live 
to  have  your  bellyful  of  impeachments." 

8  Lords'  Journals.  3  x  parj   Hist.  1399. 


1624.]  JOHN     WILLIAMS.  159 

several  things  which  made  so  deep  an  impression  on  his 
mind,  that  his  manner  to  Buckingham  was  visibly  altered. 
The  Prince,  at  Buckingham's  suggestion,  came  early  one 
morning  from  Windsor  to  the  House  of  Lords  before 
prayers,  and  taking  the  Lord  Keeper  aside,  acknowledged 
his  past  services,  and  said,  "  You  may  receive  greater 
thanks  of  us  both,  if  you  will  spread  open  that  black  con- 
trivance which  hath  lost  him  the  good  opinion  of  my 
father,  and  myself  am  in  little  better  condition."  "The 
curtain  of  privacy,"  answered  the  Lord  Keeper,  "  is  drawn 
before  the  picture  that  I  can  not  guess  at  the  colors." 
"Well,  my  Lord,"  said  the  Prince,"!  expected  better 
service  from  you  ;  for  if  that  be  the  picture  drawer's  shop, 
no  councilor  in  this  kingdom  is  better  acquainted  than 
yourself  with  the  works  and  the  workmen."  "  I  might 
have  been,"  says  the  Keeper ;  "  and  I  am  panged  like  a 
woman  in  travail  till  I  know  what  misshapen  creature 
they  are  drawing."  He  then  intimated  that  he  knew  so 
much,  that  the  Spanish  secretary  of  legation  had  had  a 
private  interview  with  the  King;  and  being  pressed  by 
the  Prince  to  state  how  he  came  by  this  information,  he 
observed :  "  Another,  perhaps,  would  blush  when  I  tell, 
you  with  what  heifer  I  plow ;  but  knowing  mine  in- 
nocency,  the  worst  that  can  happen  is  to  expose  myself 
to  be  laughed  at.  Don  Francisco  Carendolet  loves  me 
because  he  is  a  scholar :  he  is  Archdeacon  of  Cambray. 
Sometimes  we  are  pleasant  together.  I  have  discovered 
him  to  be  a  wanton,  and  a  servant  to  some  of  our  English 
beauties,  but,  above  all,  to  one  of  that  gentle  craft  in 
Mark  Lane.  A  wit  she  is,  and  one  that  must  be  courted 
with  news  and  occurrences  at  home  and  abroad,  as  well  as 
with  gifts.  I  have  a  friend  that  hath  bribed  her  in  my 
name  to  send  me  a  faithful  conveyance  of  such  tidings  as 
her  paramour  Carendolet  brings  to  her.  And  she  hath  well 
earned  a  piece  of  plate  or  two  from  me,  and  shall  not  be 
unrecompensed  for  this  service  about  which  your  High- 
ness doth  use  me,  if  the  drab  can  help  me  in  it.  Truly, 
Sir,  this  is  my  dark-lantern,  and  I  am  not  ashamed  to  in- 
quire of  a  Delilah  to  resolve  a  riddle  ;  for  in  my  studies 
of  divinity  I  have  gleaned  up  this  maxim,  Licet  uti  alieno 
peccato.  Though  the  devil  make  her  a  sinner,  I  may  make 
good  use  of  her  sin."  "  You!"  says  the  Prince  merrily, 
"  do  you  deal  in  such  ware  ?  "  "  In  good  faith,"  exclaimed 


160  CHANCELLORS     OF    JAMES    I.          [1624. 

the  Bishop,  (and  we  are  bound  to  believe  him,)  "  I  never 
saw  her  face."1 

As  soon  as  the  House  rose  he  set  about  gaining  further 
information,  but  doubting  whether  more  could  be  drawn 
from  the  lady,  he  resorted  to  the  expedient  of  arresting 
a  mass  priest  in  Drury  Lane,  a  particular  friend  of 
Carendolet,  for  whom  it  was  certain  he  would  interest 
himself.  Accordingly  the  Secretary  came  to  the  Lord 
Keeper  to  sue  for  his  friend's  liberation,  and  was  prevailed 
upon  to  disclose  everything  that  had  passed  between  him 
and  the  King.  All  this  Williams  communicated  to  Buck- 
ingham, who  immediately  went  to  the  King,  and  with  the 
Prince's  assistance  obtained  a  promise  from  him  never 
more  to  confer  with  the  Spanish  ambassadors,  and  if  they 
should  attempt  to  renew  their  secret  correspondence  with 
him,  to  send  them  out  of  the  kingdom.2  Thus  James  was 
kept  in  subjection  till  his  death. 

The  last  time  of  his  appearing  on  the  throne  was  at  the 
close  of  this  session,  when  he  delivered  a  very  learned  and 
elaborate  answer  to  the  address  of  the  Speaker;  and  the 
Lord  Keeper  forgetting  all  he  had  said  about  "  the  true 
nightingale  and  the  croaking  of  a  Chancellor,"  delivered 
another  equally  learned  and  elaborate, — the  chief  object 
of  which  was  to  justify  the  King's  refusal  to  pass  certain 
bills.  "  Indeed,"  said  he,  "  it  is  best  for  the  people  that 
this  royal  assent  is  in  his  Majesty,  and  not  in  themselves; 
for  many  times  it  falls  out  with  the  assent  of  Kings  as  it 
doth  with  God,  for  Almighty  God  many  times  does  not 
grant  those  petitions  we  do  ask.  Now  God  and  the  King 
do  imitate  the  physician,  who  knoweth  how  to  fit  his 
patients  better  than  they  do  desire."  He  then  gives  the 
instances  of  Solomon  refusing  the  petition  of  Bathsheba 
for  Adonijah,  and  God  refusing  the  petition  of  St.  Paul 
to  remove  the  prick  of  the  flesh  that  was  a  hindrance  to 
him  in  the  performance  of  good  things,  but  gave  him  grace 
— a  better  gift.3 

After  some  compliments  from  James  on  the  harmonious 

1  The  Lord  Keeper,  who  thus  acted  the  part  of  Cicero  in  discovering 
Catiline's  conspiracy,  was  famous  for  having  a  great  number  of  spies  and  in- 
formers in  his  employment,  from  whom  he  gained  much  useful  information, 
both  domestic  and  foreign,  and  whom  he  is  said  to  have  paid  very  hand- 
somely from  his  large  ecclesiastical  revenues. 

'2  Hardwicke  Papers,  vol.  i.  460.  "  j  parl.  Hist.  1498. 


1625.]  JOHN     WILLIAMS.  161 

close  of  the  session,  the  Lord  Keeper  prorogued  the  Par- 
liament, and  it  never  met  again  under  this  Sovereign. 

In  the  next  Michaelmas  term  Williams  had  a  fresh  dif- 
ference with  Buckingham,  who  wished  to  turn  him  out, 
and  tried  to  persuade  Lord  Chief  Justice  Hobart  either 
to  deliver  to  the  King  with  his  own  mouth,  or  to  set  it 
under  his  hand,  "that  Lord  Williams*  was  not  fit  for  the 
Keeper's  place  because  of  his  inabilites  and  ignorance," — 
undertaking  that  Hobart  should  succeed  him.  But  this 
great  lawyer,  either  disinterested  or  sincere,  or  preferring 
to  continue  his  repose  on  "the  cushion  of  the  Common 
Pleas,"  answered, — "  My  Lord,  somewhat  might  have  been 
said  at  the  first,  but  he  should  do  the  Lord  Williams  great 
wrong  that  said  so  now." 

In  the  following  spring  James  was  attacked  by  the 
ague,  which,  in  spite  of  the  adage  with  which  the  courtiers 
tried  to  comfort  him,*  carried  him  to  his  grave.  The 
account  of  the  closing  scene  by  Hacket  is  creditable  to 
all  the  parties  he  introduces.  "After  the  Lord  Keeper 
had  presented  himself  before  his  Lord,  the  King,  he  moved 
him  unto  cheerful  discourse,  but  it  would  not  be.  He 
continued  till  midnight  at  his  bedside,  and  received  no 
comfort ;  but  was  out  of  all  comfort  upon  the  consulta- 
tion that  the  physicians  held  together  in  the  morning. 
Presently'he  besought  the  Prince  that  he  might  acquaint 
his  father  with  his  feeble  estate,  and,  like  a  faithful  chap- 
lain, mind  him  both  of  his  mortality  and  immortality,  which 
was  allowed  and  committed  to  him  as  the  principal  instru- 
ment of  that  holy  necessary  service.  So  he  went  into  the 
chamber  of  the  King  again  upon  that  commission,  and 
kneeling  at  his  pallet  told  his  Majesty,  he  knew  he  should 
neither  displease  him  nor  discourage  him  if  he  brought 
IsaiaJis  message  to  Hezekiah  to  set  Jds  house  in  order,  for 
he  thought  his  days  to  come  would  be  but  few  in  this  world, 
but  the  best  remained  for  the  next  world. — /  am  satisfied, 
says  the  sick  King,  and  I  pray  you  assist  me  to  make  me 
ready  to  go  a^ay  hence  to  Christ,  whose  mercies  I  call  for 
and  I  hope  to  find  them."  3 

Williams,  being  soon   after  admitted,  was   constantly 

1  So  he  seems  always  to  have  been  called  while  he  held  the  Great  Seal,  as 
if  he  had  been  a  layman. — Hacket. 

*  "  An  ague  in  the  spring 

Is  physic  for  a  King." 
8  Hacket,  223.    . 
III. — II 


162  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.  [1625. 

with  him  to  the  last, — administered  the  Holy  communion 
to  him — and  when  he  expired  closed  his  eyes  with  his 
own  hand.  He  likewise  preached  his  funeral  sermon  from 
the  text,  "  Now  the  rest  of  the  acts  of  Solomon,  first  and 
last,  are  they  not  written  in  the  book  of  Nathan  the 
prophet,  and  in  the  prophecy  of  Ahijah  the  Shilonite,  and 
in  the  visions  of  Iddo  the  seer  against  Jeroboam  the  son 
of  Nebat?  And  Solomon  reigned  in  Jerusalem  over  all 
Israel  forty  years.  And  Solomon  slept  with  his  fathers, 
and  he  was  buried  in  the  city  of  David  his  father." '  It 
would  be  unjust  to  judge  this  performance  by  the  stand- 
ard of  the  present  age,  and  the  parallel  between  the  two 
Solomons  is  rather  a  proof  of  the  bad  taste  in  pulpit 
oratory  prevailing  in  England  in  the  beginning  of  the 
seventeenth  century  than  of  any  peculiar  servility  or  ful- 
someness  in  Lord  Keeper  Williams.11 

I  ought  now  to  take  a  retrospect  of  the  changes  in  the 
law  during  the  reign  of  James  I., — but  under  this  head 
there  is  little  to  relate.  His  first  parliament  chiefly  occu- 
pied itself  in  legislating  against  papists  and  witches,  and 
regulating  licenses  to  eat  flesh  in  lent.  No  memorable 
law  was  introduced  till  the  twenty-first  year  of  his  reign, 
— when  monopolies  were  for  ever  put  down,  reserving  the 
right,  now  so  frequently  exercised  by  the  Crown,  of  grant- 
ing patents  for  useful  inventions,3 — and  the  statute  was 
passed  which  regulated  prescriptions  and  the  limitation  of 
actions  down  to  our  own  time.4  The  courts  of  common 
law  were  filled  by  very  able  Judges,  many  of  whose 
decisions  are  still  quoted  as  authority.  Equity  made 
some  progress ;  but  it  was  not  yet  regarded  as  a  system 
of  jurisprudence,  and  so  little  were  decisions  in  Chancery 
considered  binding  as  precedents,  that  they  were  very 
rarely  reported,  however  important  the  question  or  learned 
the  Judge. 

We  have  seen  how,  after  a  violent  struggle  between 
Lord  Coke  and  Lord  Ellesmere,  the  Jurisdiction  of  the 
Court  of  Chancery  to  stay  by  injunction  execution  on 
judgments  at  law  was  finally  established.  In  this  reign 
the  Court  made  another  attempt, — which  was  speedily 
abandoned, — to  determine  upon  the  validity  of  wills, — 

1  2  Chron.  ix.  29-31. 

2  He  printed  the  sermon  under  the  title,  "  Great  Britain's  Solomon." 
s  21  Jac.  i,  c.  3.  4  21  Jac.  I,  c.  16. 


1625.]  JOHN     WILLIAMS.  163 

and  it  has  been  long  settled  that  the  validity  of  wills  of 
real  property  shall  be  referred  to  courts  of  law,  and  the 
validity  of  wills  of  personal  property  to  the  Ecclesiastical 
Courts, — equity  only  putting  a  construction  upon  them 
when  their  validity  has  been  established.1 

We  have  the  first  instance  in  the  reign  of  James  I.,  of 
the  exercise  of  a  jurisdiction  by  the  Court  of  Chancery, 
which  has  since  been  beneficially  continued  of  granting 
writs  ne  exeat  regno,  by  which  debtors  about  to  go  abroad 
are  obliged  to  give  security  to  their  creditors." 

Barrington  says  there  must  have  been  much  business 
in  the  Court  of  Chancery  while  Lord  Keeper  Williams 
presided  there,  because  fifteen  Sergeants  or  Barristers  of 
great  eminence  attended  when  he  was  invested  with  his 
high  office ;  and  Sir  Edward  Coke  asserts  in  the  debates 
in  the  House  of  Commons  during  the  session  of  1621, 
that  in  the  time  of  Henry  VI.  no  more  than  four  hun- 
dred subpoenas  issued  one  year  with  another  out  of  the 
Chancery,  whereas  in  the  reign  of  James  I.  the  number 
was  not  less  than  thirty-five  thousand.* 


CHAPTER    LIX. 

CONTINUATION  OF  LIFE  OF  LORD  KEEPER  WILLIAMS  TILL 
HIS  APPOINTMENT  AS  ARCHBISHOP  OF  YORK. 

CHARLES    having    returned    from    Theobald's  the 
evening  of  his   father's  death,  next  morning  sent 
for  the  Lord  Keeper  Williams  to  St.  James's,  con- 
tinued him  in  his  office,  employed  him  to  swear  in  the 
Privy  Councillors,  and  desired  him  to  prepare  two  ser- 
mons, one  for  the  funeral  of  the  late  King,  and  another 
for   the   coming    coronation.4       But  Williams   soon  saw 
that  his  downfall  was  at  hand,  and  before,  the  coronation 
of  Charles  it  was  accomplished.     The  power  of  Bucking- 
ham was  now,  if  possible,  greater  than  it  had  been  in  the 

1  Toth.  286.     Allen  v,  Macpherson,  Dom.  Proc.  1845. 

!  Toth.  233.  3  See  Barr.  on  Stat.  404,  405. 

4  On  this  occasion  the  Seal  was  surrendered  to  Charles  and  delivered  back 
by  him  to  Williams  as  Lord  Keeper,  and  a  formal  letter  was  written  to  him 
in  the  name  of  the  new  King,  desiring  him  to  use  the  old  Seal  till  the  new 
Seal  was  engraved. — Rot.  Pat.  I  Car.  n.  13. 


164  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    7.          [1625. 

late  reign,  and  he  was  resolved  to  have  a  new  Lord 
Keeper.  He  therefore  took  every  opportunity  of  slight- 
ing and  trying  to  disgust  the  present  holder  of  the  Seal, 
with  a  view  to  induce  him  to  resign  it ;  for  it  was  then  a 
very  unusual  thing  forcibly  to  turn  a  man  out  of  an  office 
which  he  held,  even  during  pleasure,  without  a  charge  of 
misconduct  being  judicially  substantiated  against  him. 
The  courtiers  were  quick-sighted  enough  to  anticipate 
William's  disgrace.  "  Laud,  as  soon  as  he  saw  that  his 
advancer  was  under  the  anger  of  the  Duke,  would  never 
acknowledge  him  more,  but  shunned  him  as  the  old  Ro- 
mans in  their  superstition  walked  aloof  from  that  soil 
which  was  blasted  with  thunder."1  However,  as  cold 
looks  and  rebuffs  were  preferred  to  voluntary  resignation, 
it  was  necessary  to  wait  till  a  decent  pretext  could  be 
found  for  the  change, — particularly  after  the  tclat  which 
the  funeral  sermon  on  the  late  King  had  conferred  upon 
the  preacher.  Some  thought  that  he  would  have  objected 
to  a  proclamation  for  suspending  the  penal  laws  against 
Papists,  but  he  put  the  Great  Seal  to  it  without  remon- 
strance. 

So  impatient  was  Charles  to  have  a  supply,  and  so  un- 
conscious of  what  he  was  to  suffer  from  popular  assem- 
blies, that  he  wished  to  continue  the  sitting  of  the  last 
parliament,  but  he  was  told  by  the  Lord  Keeper  that  it 
was  ipso  facto  dissolved  by  his  father's  death. 

A  new  parliament  summoned  by  him  met  on  the  i8th 
of  June.  Prayers  were  said  in  the  presence  of  both 
Houses,  while  the  King,  uncovered,  knelt  at  the  throne. 
He  then  delivered  a.  short  speech,  which  has  the  appear- 
ance of  being  his  own  extempore  composition."  But  a 
labored  oration  followed  from  the  Lord  Keeper,  urging  a 
supply  from  the  state  of  affairs  in  the  Palatinate,  in  the 
Low  Countries,  and  in  Ireland,  and  inculcating  loyalty  on 
the  maxim  "  amor  civium  regis  munimentum" 

There  was  a  much  greater  inclination  in  the  Commons 
to  inquire  into  grievances  than  to  grant  liberal  supplies ; 
and  the  plague  breaking  out  in  London, — at  a  council 
called  to  consider  what  ought  to  be  done,  a  prorogation 

1  Racket,  part  ii.  23. 

2  He  begins  by  thanking  God  that  the  business  to  be  treated  requires  no 
eloquence  to  set  it  forth  :  "  for,"  says  he,  "  I  am  neither  able  to  do  it,  nor 
doth  it  stand  with  my  nature  to  spend  much  time  in  words." 


1625.]  JOHN     WILLIAMS.  165 

was  proposed  to  Oxford,  where  it  was  thought  the  mal- 
contents might  be  more  manageable.  This  was  strongly 
opposed  by  the  Lord  Keeper,  who  urged  that  when  they 
came  together  there,  they  would  vote  out  of  discontent 
and  displeasure,  and  that  his  Majesty  was  ill-counselled  to 
give  offense  in  the  bud  of  his  reign, — "  quae  nulli  magis 
evitandae  sunt  quam  juveni  et  principi,  cujus  gratia  cum 
aetate  debet  adolescere."  Buckingham  grinned  at  him 
while  he  spoke. 

At  Oxford  the  Commons  were  more  refractory,  and  the1 
attempt  ended  in  an  abrupt  dissolution.1  The  Lord 
Keeper  was  now  most  unjustly  accused  by  Buckingham 
of  having  intrigued  with  Sir  Edward  Coke  and  the  popular 
leaders,  and  having  stirred  them  up  to  oppose  the  Court ; 
and,  to  justify  himself,  he  drew  up  and  privately  put  into 
the  King's  hand  a  paper  entitled — -"  Reasons  to  satisfy 
your  most  excellent  Majesty  concerning  my  carriage  all 
this  last  parliament."  This  made  a  favorable  impression 
on  the  King,  and  the  young  Queen  Henrietta  was  dis- 
posed to  protect  him, — pleased  by  his  forbearance  to  the 
Roman  Catholics,  and  by  a  speech  he  had  addressed  to 
her  in  French,  when  he  presented  the  Bishops  to  her  on 
her  arrival  in  England. 

But  Buckingham  was  not  to  be  diverted  from  his  pur- 
pose. He  revived  the  charge  of  intriguing  with  the  dis- 
contented parliamentary  leaders  at  Oxford,  and  he  re- 
minded the  King  that  when  Williams  was  first  made  Lord 
Keeper,  he  himself  had  proposed  the  rule  that  "  the  Great 
Seal  ought  never  to  be  held  by  the  same  person  more  than 
three  years." 

Charles  yielded ;  and  Lord  Conway,  deputed  by  him, 
came  to  the  Lord  Keeper's  lodgings  at  Salisbury,  and  said 
— "  that  his  Majesty  understanding  that  his  father,  who  is 
with  God,  had  taken  a  resolution  that  the  Keepers  of  the 
Great  Seal  of  England  should  continue  but  from  three 
years  to  three  years,  and  approving  very  well  thereof,  and 
resolved  to  observe  the  order  during  his  own  reign,  he  ex- 
pects that  you  should  surrender  up  the  Seal  by  All 
Hallowtide  next, — alleging  no  other  cause  thereof, — and 
withal,  that  having  so  done,  you  should  retire  yourself  to 
your  bishopric  of  Lincoln."  Williams  respectfully  pro- 
fessed his  submission  to  the  royal  mandate,  thanking  God 

1  2  Parl.  Hist.  36. 


1 66  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.          [1625. 

that  the  Seal  was  not  demanded  on  any  other  ground. 
He  said  the  late  King  had  continued  it  to  him  after  the 
expiration  of  the  three  years,  and  the  present  King  had 
restored  it  to  him  without  condition  or  limitation  of  time, 
— "yet  it  is  his  Majesty's,  and  I  will  be  ready  to  deliver  it 
up  to  any  man  that  his  Majesty  shall  send  with  his  warrant 
to  require  it."  He  strongly  remonstrated  against  the 
order  that  he  should  be  restrained  to  his  diocese,  or  any 
place  else.  Lord  Con  way  tried  to  soothe  him  by  saying, 
"he  understood  this  was  merely  meant,  that  he  should 
not,  after  parting  with  the  Seal,  be  obliged  to  attend  the 
council-table,  but  that  he  should  be  free  to  go  to  his 
bishopric." 

The  Lord  Keeper  afterwards  addressed  a  valedictory 
epistle  to  the  King,  and  had  an  audience  of  leave  pre- 
paratory to  his  formal  surrender  of  the  Seal.  Charles,  on 
this  occasion,  behaved  to  him  with  courtesy,  and  promised 
to  comply  with  several  requests  which  he  made, — amongst 
others,  that  he  might  have  leave  to  retire  from  Salisbury, 
where  the  Court  then  lay,  to  a  little  lodge  lent  to  him  by 
the  Lord  Sandys,  and  there  my  Lord  Conway  might  re- 
ceive the  Seal,  when  his  Majesty  commanded  it,  in  his 
journey  towards  Windsor.  He  immediately  went  to  this 
"retreat,  finding  "  those  suddenly  strangers  to  him  who 
were  lately  in  his  bosom,  and  that  a  cashiered  courtier  is 
an  almanack  of  the  last  year,  remembered  by  nothing  but 
the  great  eclipse."  ' 

At  last,  on  the  25th  of  October  the  following  warrant 
was  produced  to  him : — 

"  CHARLES,  R. 

"  Trusty  and  well-beloved  Councillor,  we  greet 
you  well.  You  are  to  deliver,  upon  the  receipt  hereof, 
our  Great  Seal  of  England,  whereof  you  are  our  Keeper, 
unto  our  trusty  and  well-beloved  Councillor  Sir  John 
Suckling,  Controuler  of  the  Household,  the  bearer  hereof; 
and  this  shall  be  a  sufficient  warrant  unto  you  so  to  do. 
Given  under  our  Signet,  at  our  Court  at  Salisbury,  &c." 

The  Seal  was  immediately  put  into  a  costly  cabinet  in 
Sir  John  Suckling's  presence,  and  the  key  of  the  cabinet 
was  inclosed  in  a  letter  to  the  King,  sealed  with  the  epis- 
copal seal  of  Lincoln,  and  containing  the  last  words  of 
St.  Ambrose  and  S*.  Chrysostom,  thus  translated,  "  Non 

1  Hacket,  ii.  26. 


1625.]  JOHN     WILLIAMS.  167 

it  a  vixi  ut  me  vivere  pudeat ;  nee  mori  timeo,  quia  bonum 
habemus  Dominum  ;  that  as  I  have  not  lived  in  my  place  so 
altogether  unworthily  as  to  be  ashamed  to  continue  in  the 
same,  so  am  I  not  now  perturbed  in  the  quitting  of  the  same, 
because  I  know  I  have  a  good  God  and  a  gracious  sover- 
eign. Moriar  ego,  sed  me  mortuo,  vigeat  ecclcsia.  Let  me 
retire  to  my  little  Zoar,  but  let  your  gracious  Majesty  be 
pleased  to  recommend  unto  my  most  able  and  deserving 
successor  an  especial  care  of  your  church  and  churchmen. 
So  may  God  make  your  Majesty  more  victorious  than 
David,  more  wise  than  Solomon,  and  every  way  as  great 
a  King  as  your  Majesty's  blessed  father."  ' 

This  is  the  last  time  that  an  ecclesiastic  has  held  the 
Great  Seal  of  England,  and  notwithstanding  the  admira- 
tion in  some  quarters  of  mediaeval  usages,  I  presume  the 
experiment  is  not  likely  to  be  soon  repeated.  No  blame 
can  be  imputed  to  Williams  while  Keeper,  for  he  seems 
to. have  been  most  anxious  to  perform  the  duties  of  the 
office  to  the  best  of  his  ability.  Clarendon  represents 
him  as  corrupt ;  but  I  think  without  any  proof  to  sup- 
port the  charge."  It  is  quite  clear  that  he  was  not  swayed 
in  his  decrees  by  the  solicitations  of  Buckingham,  which 
was  probably  one  cause  of  his  dismissal.  James  said  that, 
in  sometimes  withstanding  Buckingham,  "  he  was  a  stout 
man  that  durst  do  more  than  himself." 

He  is  blamed  for  having  made  a  vast  many  orders  pri- 
vately on  petitions,  for  the  sake  of  the  fees,  amounting  to 
^3,000  a  year;  but  his  friends  asserted  with  much  proba- 
bility, that  this  complaint  arose  from  the  barristers  who 
lost  the  glut  of  motions  they  were  accustomed  to  have 
in  Court.3 

1  Racket,  ii.  27. 

*  Touching  his  bribery,  the  following  pleasant  anecdote  is  told  :  Having 
retired  one  summer  to  Nonsuch  House,  it  chanced,  as  he  was   taking  the  air 
in  the  Great  Park,  that  seeing  a  new-built  church  at  a  distance,  and  learning 
the  name   of  the  chief  benefactor,  he  said,  "  Has  he  not  a  suit  depending  in 
Chancery?"  and  the  answer  from  George  Minors,  who  attended  him,  being  in 
the  affirmative,  he  added,  "  and  he  shall  not  fare  the  worse  for  building  of 
churches."     The  gentleman  being  told  this  saying  of  the  Lord  Keeper,  sent, 
next  morning,  a  taste  of  the  fruit  of  his  orchard  and  the  poultry  in  his  yard, 
to  Nonsuch    House.     "  Nay,    carry  them  back,   George,"  said  the  Keeper, 
"and  tell  your  friend  he  shall  not  fare  the  better  for  sending  of  presents." — 
Philips. 

*  One  of  these  petitions,  with  the  Lord  Keeper's  answer,  is  still  extant  in 
the  Report  Office:  "  Fitchell  con.  Hickman.     The  petition  of  two  orphan 
children  prayed  that  their  uncle  and  brother  might  be  appointed  to  put  cer- 


168  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.          [1625. 

It  is  admitted  that,  at  first,  he  showed  his  Cambrian 
origin  by  his  irascibility  ;  "  yet  when  he  had  overgone 
three  years  in  the  Court  of  Chancery,  he  watched  his 
passions  so  well  that  the  heat  of  his  old  British  com- 
plexion was  much  abated,  and  he  carried  all  things  with 
far  more  lenity  than  choler.1  He  would  chide  little  and 
bear  much.  His  anger  on  the  bench,  if  sharp,  was  short- 
lived, and  the  sun  never  set  before  he  was  returned  to 
patience  and  loving  kindness."  * 

Although  he  was  very  charitable  and  munificent,  he  did 
not,  like  some  of  his  predecessors  and  successors,  court 
popularity  by  dinner-giving.  "  He  never  feasted  the  King, 
and  very  rarely  gave  any  lavish  entertainments  to 
others." ! 

If  (as  it  was  alleged)  a  good  many  of  his  decrees  were  re- 
versed by  his  successor,  he  was  little  answerable  for  them, 
as  he  still  continued  to  have  the  Master  of  the  Rolls  or 
common-law  Judges  for  his  assessors, — and  these  reversals 
are  said  to  have  been  chiefly  on  rehearings,  with  new 
evidence. 


I  have  now  done  with  Williams  in  his  judicial  capacity, 
and  in  my  strictures  upon  him  I  hope  I  have  not  forgotten 
the  good-natured  admonition  of  Bishop  Hacket :  "  I  do 
not  blame  lawyers  if  they  would  have  us  believe  that  none 
is  fit  for  the  office  of  Chancellor  but  one  of  their  own  pro- 
fession. But  let  them  plead  their  own  learning  and  able 
parts,  without  traducing  the  gifts  of  them  that  are  excel- 
lently seen  in  theological  cases  of  conscience,  and  singu- 
larly rare  in  natural  solertiousness." 

When  Williams  was  deprived  of  the  Great  Seal  he  was 
only  in  his  forty-third  year — an  age  at  which,  if  bred  to 
the  bar  in  our  times,  he  might  be  aspiring  to  a  silk  gown. 
He  lived  twenty-five  years  afterwards,  constantly  involved 
in  turmoil  and  trouble  ;  but  as  he  was  no  longer  connected 

tain  bonds  in  suit  for  their  benefit.  Answer.  '  I  must  be  certified  from  the 
two  justices  next  adjoyning  of  a  sufficient  man  who  I  may  trust  for  the  use  of 
the  children,  least  they  fall  from  the  frieing  pan  to  the  fire.' — To.  LlNC. 
L.  K." 

1  It  is  said  that  the  great  Welsh  case  of  Choleric  v.  Choleric,  which   was 
pending  so  long  in  the  Court  of   Chancery,  began  in  his  time,  and  caused 
some  mirth  when  called  on  by  the  Registrar. 

2  Hacket.  3  jbid  7< 


1625.]  JOHN     WILLIAMS.  169 

with  the  administration  of  justice,  as  he  was  only  a 
second-rate  statesman,  as  he  had  not  a  high  name  in 
oratory  or  literature,  and  as  the  events  of  his  time  which 
it  is  my  duty  to  record  will  be  illustrated  in  the  lives  of 
his  successors,  I  shall  be  brief  in  my  sketch  of  his  subse- 
quent career. 

From  Foxley,  in  Wiltshire,  where  he  surrendered  the 
Great  Seal,  he  went  at  once  to  his  episcopal  palace  at 
Buckden,  which  he  found  in  a  very  dilapidated  condition. 
He  magnificently  restored  it,  and  there  he  lived  in  splen- 
dor, having  public  days  for  entertaining  all  the  surround- 
ing clergy  and  gentry  at  his  table.1  Forgetting  how  he 
himself  employed  spies,  he  talked  very  freely  of  the 
government— not  always  sparing  the  failings  of  the  King 

1  The  same  kinsman  to  whom  I  before  referred  has  favored  me  with  a  copy 
of  the  following  original  letter,  still  extant,  written  by  the  ex- Lord  Keeper 
soon  after  his  return  to  Buckden  : — 

"_With  the  remembrance  of  my  love  and  best  affections  unto  you,  being 
very*  sensible  of  that  great  goodwill  you  have  ever  borne  me,  I  thought  it  not 
unnecessarie  to  take  this  course  with  you,  which  I  have  done  with  noe  one 
other  freynde  in  the  worlde,  as  to  desire  you  to  be  noe  more  troubled  with 
this  late  accident  befallen  unto  me,  than  you  shall  understand  I  am  myselfe. 

"  There  is  nothinge  happened  which  I  did  not  foresee,  and  (sithence  the 
death  of  my  deare  master)  assuredlye  expect  ;  nor  laye  it  in  my  power  to 
prevent,  otherwise  than  by  the  sacrificinge  of  my  poor  estate,  and  that  which 
I  esteeme  far  above  the  same — my  reputation. 

"  I  know  you  love  me  too  well  to  wishe  that  I  should  be  lavishe  of  either 
of  these,  to  continue  longer  (yeat  no  longer  than  one  man  pleased)  in  this 
glorious  miserye  and  splendid  slaverye,  wherein  I  have  lived  (if  a  man  maye 
call  such  a  toilinge  a  living)  for  these  five  years  almost. 

"  By  losinge  the  Scale,  I  have  lost  nothinge,  nor  my  servants,  by  any 
faulte  of  myne,  there  being  nothinge  either  layde  or  soe  much  as  whispered  to 
my  charge. 

"  If  we  have  not  the  opportunitye  we  hadd  before  to  serve  the  Kinge,  we 
have  much  more  conveniencye  to  serve  God,  which  I  doe  embrace  as  the 
onlye  end  of  God's  love  and  providence  towards  me  in  this  sudden  alteration. 

"  For  your  sonne  Owen  Wynn  (who  together  with  my  debteis  the  object  of 
my  worldlye  thoughts  and  cares),  I  will  perform  towards  him  all  that  he  can 
have  expected  from  me,  if  I  live  ;  and  if  I  die,  I  have  performed  it  alreadye. 

"  You  neede  not  feare  any  misse  of  me,  being  for  such  sera  reserved  in  all 
your  desires  and  requests  ;  having  alsoe  your  eldest  son  near  the  Kinge,  and 
of  good  reputation  in  the  Court,  who  can  give  you  a  good  accompt  of  any 
thinge  you  shall  recoinmende  him  unto  you. 

"  Hopinge  therefore  that  I  shall  ever  holde  the  same  place  I  did  in  your 
love,  which  was  fixed  on  my  person,  not  my  late  Glare,  and  which  I  will  de- 
serve by  all  the  freyndlye  and  lovinge  offices  which  shall  lie  in  my  power,  I 
end  with  my  prayer  unto  God  for  the  continuance  of  your  health,  and  doe 
rest  your  very  assured  lovinge  freynd  and  cozen, 

"  Bugden,  i  Decr.,  1625.  "Jo.  LINCOLN. 

"  To  my  very  much  hononed  worthy  Freynd  and  Cozen, 
Sr  John  Wynn,  Knt  and  Baronet." 


i7o  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.          [1628. 

and  the  favorite.  Some  of  his  indiscreet  expressions 
being  reported  at  Court,  Buckingham  vowed,  "that  of  all 
he  had  given  him  he  would  leave  him  nothing."  In  the 
hope  of  discovering  something  against  him  that  might  be 
made  the  subject  of  prosecution  in  the  King's  Bench,  in 
the  Star  Chamber,  or  in  Parliament,  a  commission  of 
thirteen  was  appointed  to  inquire  into  all  his  proceedings 
while  he  held  the  Great  Seal — but  the  attempt  proved 
abortive. 

At  the  approach  of  the  coronation,  for  which  he  had 
been  ordered  to  prepare  a  sermon,  he  came  to  London 
and  dutifully  tendered  his  service.  As  Dean  of  Westmin- 
ster, according  to  the  usage  of  centuries,  he  was  entitled 
to  a  particular  place  at  this  solemnity.  But  he  had  orders 
to  absent  himself,  and  to  depute  one  of  the  prebendaries 
in  his  stead.  He  sent  in  a  list  of  all  the  prebendaries — 
and  to  mortify  him  the  more,  Laud,  his  special  enemy, 
was  selected. 

Not  receiving  a  writ  of  summons  to  Charles's  second 
parliament,  which  met  soon  after,  and  feeling  that  this 
was  an  infringement  of  the  rights  of  the  peerage,  he  wrote 
to  him,  remonstrating  against  the  insult,  and  saying,  "  I 
beg,  for  God's  sake,  that  your  Majesty  would  be  pleased 
to  mitigate  the  causeless  displeasure  of  my  Lord  Duke 
against  me,  and  I  beseech  your  Majesty,  for  Jesus  Christ 
his  sake,  not  to  believe  news  or  accusations  against  me 
while  I  stand  thus  enjoined  from  your  royal  presence,  be- 
fore you  shall  have  heard  my  answer  to  the  particulars." 
The  writ  was  sent  to  him,  and  he  gave  his  proxy  to 
Bishop  Andrews,  forbearing  to  sit  in  the  House  during 
this  short  parliament,  in  the  hope  of  assuaging  Bucking- 
ham"^ resentment,  to  whom  he  privately  sent  some  whole- 
some advice  for  the  management  of  public  affairs. 

On  the  summoning  of  the  famous  parliament  which 
passed  "  the  Petition  of  Right,"  he  received  his  writ, 
with  an  injunction  not  to  attend  ;  but  he  wrote  back  to 
Lord  Keeper  Coventry,  "  I  must  crave  some  time  to  re- 
solve, by  the  best  counsels  God  shall  give  me,  whether  I 
shall  obey  your  Lordship's  letter  (though  mentioning  his 
Majesty's  pleasure)  before  my  own  right,  which,  by  the 
law  of  God  and  man,  I  may,  in  all  humility,  maintain." 
When  parliament  met,  he  took  his  seat  in  person,  and 
was  constant  in  his  attendance  during  the  session. 


1628.]  JOHN     WILLIAMS.  171 

The  Lords  entering  into  an  inquiry  respecting  illegal 
commitments  for  refusal  to  pay  the  forced  loan,  he  very 
actively  assisted,  and,  as  ex-L,ord  Keeper,  spoke  with  the 
authority  of  a  law  lord.  The  Judges  of  the  King's  Bench, 
who  had  refused  to  liberate  these  prisoners  on  a  habeas 
corpus,  were  ordered  to  attend,  but  scrupled  to  answer 
the  questions  put  to  them,  and  "  desired  to  be  advised 
whether  they  being  sworn,  upon  penalty  of  forfeiting 
body,  lands,  and  goods  into  the  King's  hands,  to  give  an 
account  to  him,  may  do  this  without  warrant  from  his 
Majesty."  The  Bishop  of  Lincoln  said,  "  this  motion 
proceeded  from  him  ;  and  he  took  it  for  clear  that  there  is 
an  appeal  even  from  the  Chancery,  which  is  a  higher  Court 
than  the  King's  Bench ;  and  that  Court  hath  ever  given 
an  account  of  their  doings."  ' 

He  was  one  of  the  managers  for  the  Lords  of  the  open 
conferences  between  the  two  Houses  on  this  subject,  and 
gave  a  very  elaborate  report  of  the  speeches  of  the  mana- 
gers for  the  Commons,  particularly  those  of  Sir  E.  Coke 
and  Mr.  Noy, — afterwards  the  inventor  of  the  writ  for 
ship  money, — then  a  flaming  patriot.2 

When  the  Petition  of  Right  came  up  from  the  Com- 
mons, Williams  warmly  supported  it ;  but,  to  show  his 
moderation,  he  proposed  to  add  a  clause,  "  That,  as  they 
desired  to  preserve  their  own  liberties,  so  they  had  regard 
to  leave  entire  that  power  wherewith  his  Majesty  was  in- 
trusted for  the  protection  of  his  people."  The  Lords 
agreed  to  the  amendment ;  but  it  was  rejected  by  the 
Commons,  under  a  suspicion  that  the  Bishop  had  been 
"  sprinkled  with  some  Court  holy  water." 

He  afterwards  gained  unqualified  applause  for  his  as- 
sistance in  carrying  through  the  measure.  The  royal 
assent  being  for  some  time  refused,  he  made  a  very  excel- 
lent speech,  showing  that,  as  it  stood  it  was  agreeable  to 
our  laws  and  constitution  ;  and  that  it  was  no  less  honor- 
able for  the  King,  as  it  made  him  a  King  of  freemen  not 
of  slaves. 

At  last  the  words  were  pronounced,  "  Le  droit  soit  fait 
come  il  est  desire" ;"  and  the  Petition  of  Right  was  law. 

In  the  general  joy  which  followed,  the  King,  for  a  short 
time,  sought  to  add  to  his  popularity  by  appearing  to 
take  Williams  again  into  favor.  A  private  conference 

1  2  Parl.  Hist.  288.  *  Ibid.  322. 


172  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    /.  [1637. 

then  took  place  between  them,  which  was  made  the 
foundation  of  all  the  Bishop's  subsequent  persecutions 
and  misfortunes.  To  a  question,  "  how  the  King  might 
ingratiate  himself  with  the  people?"  he  answered  "That 
the  Puritans  were  many,  and  strong  sticklers;  and  if  his 
Majesty  would  give  but  private  orders  to  his  ministers  to 
connive  a  little  at  their  party,  and  show  them  some  in- 
dulgence, it  might,  perhaps,  mollify  them  a  little,  and 
make  them  more  pliant,  though  he  did  not  promise  that 
they  would  be  trusty  long  to  any  government."  The 
King  said  he  took  the  advice  in  good  part  and  promised 
to  follow  it ; — and  happy  would  it  have  been  for  him  if 
he  had  so  acted, — instead  of  throwing  himself  into  the 
arms  of  Laud,  and  for  nearly  twelve  years  (during  which 
parliaments  were  intermitted)  doing  everything  to  irritate 
and  insult  that  party  which,  growing  strong  by  persecu- 
tion deprived  him  of  his  crown  and  of  his  life. 

It  was  thought  that  when  Buckingham  had  perished  by 
the  fanaticism  of  Felton,  Williams  might  have  recovered 
his  ascendancy ;  but  this  event  only  added  to  the  power 
of  Laud,  who  was  successively  made  Bishop  of  London, 
and  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  presided  both  in  the 
Court  of  High  Commission,  and  in  the  Star  Chamber. 
This  wrong-headed  man  no  doubt  persuaded  himself  that 
he  had  no  object  in  view  but  the  welfare  of  the  Church 
and  the  King,  and  that  he  was  doing  God  good  service  by 
all  the  cruel  measures  he  resorted  to. 

Unfortunately  for  the  Church,  and  fatally  for  himself, 
he  forthwith  originated  a  controversy  very  similar  to  that 
which  has  recently  sprung  up  at  Oxford  ;  but,  thank  God, 
the  very  learned  and  pious  Tractarians  have  neither  the 
power  nor  the  wish  to  enforce  their  opinions  by  violent 
means.  The  Archbishop,  without  being  a  Roman  Catho- 
lic, longed  to  come  as  near  as  possible  to  the  doctrines 
and  ceremonies  of  Rome,  and  issued  a  number  of  new 
regulations  with  respect  to  the  position  of  the  com- 
munion-table, the  mode  of  adminstering  the  sacrament  of 
the  Lord's  Supper,  and  other  religious  rites.  These 
Williams  considered  not  only  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  the 
Reformation,  but  in  violation  of  ecclesiastical  canons,  and 
the  Articles  of  the  Church  of  England, — and  to  oppose 
them,  he  published  a  book,  entitled  "  The  Holy  Table," 
—pretty  plainly  insinuating  that  they  led  to  Romanism, 


1637.]  JOHN     WILLIAMS.  173 

but  at  the  same  time  using  Scripture  language,  and  such 
general  arguments,  that  his  book  could  not  itself  be  made 
the  subject  of  prosecution.1 

Laud,  however,  denounced  all  who  differed  from  him  as 
"  Puritans,"  and  eagerly  looked  out  for  an  opportunity  to 
prosecute  Williams  as  their  leader. 

There  was  a  suit  depending  in  the  episcopal  court  at 
Lincoln,  against  some  persons  who  had  refused  to  comply 
with  a  prescribed  ecclesiastical  formality.  The  Bishop 
was  unwilling  to  proceed  to  extremities  against  them, 
and  the  prosecutors  at  the  trial  having  called  them  "Puri- 
tans," he  said  something  about  "  the  Puritans  being  good 
subjects,  and  of  his  knowing  that  the  King  did  not  wish 
them  to  be  hardly  dealt  with."  Complaint  of  this  lan- 
guage was  immediately  brought  to  Laud,  and  he  directed 
it  to  be  made  the  subject  of  an  information  in  the  Star 
Chamber — the  charge  to  be,  for  spreading  false  news,  and 
disclosing  what  had  passed  between  the  defendant  and 
the  King,  contrary  to  the  oath  of  a  Privy  Councillor," — 
and  the  evidence,  "  that  he  had  published  and  misrepre- 
sented his  conversation  with  the  King  about  indulgence 
to  the  Puritans."  As  a  preliminary  step  his  name  was 
struck  out  from  the  list  of  Privy  Councillors. 

Noy  was  then  Attorney  General,  and  filed  the  informa- 
tion, but  on  looking  into  the  case  he  was  so  much  ashamed 
of  it,  that  it  went  to  sleep  for  several  years.  On  his  death, 
— at  the  instigation  of  Laud,  who  had  in  vain  tried  to  in- 
duce Williams  to  recant  the  doctrines  of  "The  Holy 
Table,"  and  to  resign  the  deanery  of  Westminster, — it 
was  revived.  Still  there  was  a  difficulty  in  carrying  it 
through  without  any  evidence, — when  Sir  John  Banks, 
the  new  Attorney  General,  dexterously  and  unscrupu- 
lously filed  another  information  against  the  Bishop,  imput- 
ing to  him  that  he  had  tampered  with  the  King's  wit- 
nesses in  the  former  suit. 

This  was  equally  unfounded,  but,  after  a  trial  which 
lasted  nine  days,  the  Right  Reverend  Defendant  was 
found  guilty.  Archbishop  Laud,  in  pronouncing  judg- 
ment, hypocritically  said,  "  Sorry  I  am,  my  Lords,  that 
such  a  man  as  my  Lord  Bishop  of  Lincoln  for  profession, 
and  sorry  that  he,  being  so  wise,  so  discreet  and  under- 

1  Clarendon  says  of  it  that  it  displayed  "  much  good  learning,  but  too 
little  gravity  for  a  Bishop." 


174  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.  [1639. 

standing  a  man  every  way,  should  come  to  deserve  the 
censure  of  this  Court.  When  I  look  upon  and  consider 
his  excellent  parts,  both  of  nature  and  achieved  unto  by 
study  and  art ;  when  I  think  upon  his  wisdom,  learning, 
agility  of  memory,  and  the  experience  that  accompanies 
him  with  all  those  endowments,  it  puts  me  to  stand." 
The  sentence  was,  that  the  defendant  should  pay  a  fine 
of  £10,000;  should  be  imprisoned  in  the  Tower  during 
the  King's  pleasure  ;  should,  be  suspended  from  his  ec- 
clesiastical functions  tarn  a  bcneficiis  quam  officiis ;  and 
should  be  referred  over  to  the  High  Commission  Court, 
there  to  be  further  dealt  with  as  his  offense  should  de- 
serve. 

Under  this  judgment  he  was  immediately  arrested  and 
carried  to  the  Tower,  where  he  was  kept  a  close  prisoner 
between  three  and  four  years,  till  he  was  released  by  the 
Long  Parliament.  Meanwhile  he  was,  in  other  respects, 
treated  with  excessive  severity.  He  petitioned  that  "  his 
fine  might  be  taken  up  by  £ 1,000  yearly,  as  his  estate 
would  bear  it ;"  but  Kilvert,  a  pettifogging  attorney,  and 
an  infamous  tool  of  his  persecutors,  was  sent  down  to 
Buckden  with  an  immediate  execution  for  the  £10,000, — 
seized  all  his  furniture,  plate,  and  books, — felled  his  timber, 
— slaughtered  his  deer, — sold  for  five  pounds  pictures 
which  had  cost  him  £400, — and  continued  reveling  for 
several  years  in  the  palace  without  accounting  for  the 
moneys  he  received,  or  paying  any  part  of  the  fine. 

Laud,  not  yet  satiated,  in  the  spring  of  1639,  caused 
another  information  to  be  filed  against  Williams,  along 
with  Lambert  Osbaldeston,  one  of  the  Masters  of  West- 
minster School,  "for  divulging  false  news  and  lies  to 
breed  a  disturbance  between  the  late  Lord  Treasurer 
Weston  and  the  Archbishop  himself;  for  giving  them 
nicknames,  and  for  contriving  to  work  the  Archbishop's 
ruin."  This  charge  was  founded  on  certain  private  letters 
of  the  defendants,  in  which  they  had  reflected  on  some 
of  the  measures  of  the  Lord  Treasurer,  and  had  called  the 
Archbishop  "  the  great  little  man."  Being  found  guilty, 
the  sentence  upon  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln  was,  that  he 
should  be  fined  £5,000  to  the  King,  and  £3,000  to  the 
Archbishop ;  imprisoned  during  the  King's  pleasure,  and 
acknowledge  his  fault.  He  was  supposed  by  his  judges  to 
be  rather  leniently  dealt  with  ;  for  Osbaldeston  had  a  similar 


I64Q.J  JOHN     WILLIAMS.  175 

sentence,  with  the  addition  of  standing  in  the  pillory  and 
having  his  ears  nailed  to  it. 

When  it  was  thought  that  the  ex-Lord  Keeper's  spirit 
was  broken  by  these  proceedings,  an  offer  was  made  to 
liberate  him  on  his  giving  up  his  bishopric  and  all  his  pre- 
ferments in  England,  and  taking  a  bishopric  in  Ireland. 
He  answered,  "  that  it  were  a  tempting  of  God  to  part 
with  all  he  had  willingly,  and  leave  himself  no  assurance 
of  a  livelihood ;  that  his  debts,  if  he  came  out  of  the 
Tower,  would  cast  him  into  another  prison  ;  that  he  would 
never  hazard  himself  into  a  condition  to  beg  his  bread  ; 
and  as  to  going  into  Ireland,  that  as  he  was  imprisoned 
here  under  the  King,  he  plainly  saw  he  should  soon  be 
hanged  there  under  the  Lord  Deputy."  So  he  resolved 
to  exercise  his  patience,  and  wait  a  better  day. 

His  deliverance  arrived  much  sooner  than  could  then 
have  been  expected.  The  parliament  which  was  assem- 
bled in  the  beginning  of  1640,  upon  the  Scottish  invasion, 
was  abruptly  dissolved  before  Williams  could  apply  to  it 
for  redress ;  but  the  November  following  was  the  memor- 
able era  of  the  meeting  of  "the  Long  Parliament."  He 
now  hoped  for  his  own  liberation,  and  vengeance  on  his 
oppressor.  About  this  time  he  said  to  Hacket,  his  biog- 
rapher, "  I  am  right  sorry  for  the  King,  who  is  like  to  be 
forsaken  by  his  subjects.  But  for  the  Archbishop,  he  had 
best  not  meddle  with  me,  for  all  the  friends  he  can  make 
will  be  too  few  to  save  him." 

In  a  few  days  after  the  commencement  of  the  session 
he  presented  a  petition  to  the  House  of  Lords  praying 
that  he  might  be  set  at  liberty,  and  that  a  writ  of  sum- 
mons might  be  sent  to  him  as  a  Peer.  This  was  opposed 
by  Finch,  the  Lord  Keeper,  and  by  Archbishop  Laud; 
but  the  Lords  agreed  on  an  address  to  the  King  in  his 
favor,  and  sent  their  own  officer,  the  Gentleman  Usher  of 
the  Black  Rod,  to  the  Tower  to  deliver  him  out  of  custody. 
He  was  brought  to  Westminster  forthwith,  and,  in  the 
midst  of  many  congratulations,  took  his  seat  on  the 
Bishop's  bench. 

He  could  not  refrain,  at  first,  from  launching  out  rather 

1  Hacket,  part  ii.  136.  According  to  Clarendon,  "  he  had  much  to  defend 
himself  against  the  Archbishop  here  ;  but  if  he  was  in  Ireland  there  was  a 
man  (meaning  the  Earl  of  Strafford)  who  would  cut  off  his  head  within  one 
month." 


176  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    7.          [1640. 

violently  against  those  who  had  persecuted  him,  but  after 
this  ebullition  he  conducted  himself  with  moderation  ; 
showing  himself  a  friend  to  the  monarchy  and  the  church  ; 
and,  were  it  not  for  the  Jesuitical  advice  which  he  gave 
to  Charles,  about  assenting  to  the  execution  of  Straffbrd, 
his  subsequent  conduct  must  be  applauded  by  all  parties 
in  the  state.  Some  Peers,  to  whom  chiefly  he  owed  his 
liberation,  having  spoken  with  personal  disrespect  of  the 
King,  who  was  still  residing  at  Westminster  in  the  full 
exercise  of  the  royal  functions,  he  sharply  rebuked  them, 
— pointing  out  how  the  use  of  such  language  was  con- 
trary to  the  duty  of  good  subjects,  and  was  inconsistent 
with  all  notion  of  kingly  government.  They  exclaimed  : 
"  We  have  conjured  up  a  spirit,  and  would  we  could  lay 
him  again."  Clarendon  relates,  that  now  preaching  before 
the  King  in  his  turn  as  Dean  of  Westminster,  when  men- 
tioning the  Presbyterian  discipline,  he  said,  "  it  was  a 
government  only  fit  for  tailors  and  shoemakers  and  the 
like — not  for  noblemen  and  gentlemen," — which  giving 
great  scandal  to  his  patrons,  "  he  reconciled  himself  to 
them  by  making  merry  with  certain  sharp  sayings  of  the 
Court."  But  the  noble  historian  had  such  a  spite  against 
Williams,  that  this  representation  must  be  received  with 
some  suspicion.1 

From  whatever  cause, — the  King,  pretending  to  ap- 
prove of  his  conduct,  sent  for  him  one  evening,  had  a 
conference  with  him  that  lasted  till  after  midnight,  and, 
as  a  token  of  a  full  pardon,  ordered  the  records  of  all 
the  proceedings  against  him  in  the  Star  Chamber  to  be 
cancelled. 

To  some  of  his  more  respectable  opponents  Williams 
said,  "  If  they  had  no  worse  foes  than  him,  they  might 
fear  no  harm,  and  that  he  saluted  them  with  the  charity 
of  a  Bishop;"  but  when  Kilvert,  who  had  behaved  so 
abominably  at  Buckden,  came  to  crave  pardon  and  in- 
demnity, he  said  passionately,  "  I  assure  you  pardon  for 
what  you  have  done  before  ;  but  this  is  a  new  fault,  that 
you  take  me  to  be  of  so  base  a  spirit  as  to  defile  myself 
with  treading  on  so  mean  a  creature.  Live  still  by  pet- 
tifogging, and  think  that  I  have  forgotten  you." * 

He  strongly  advised  Charles  not  to  assent  to  the  act 
which  deprived  him  of  the  power  of  dissolving  this 
1  Hist.  Reb.  i.  536  542,  548.  «  Racket,  part  ii. 


1641.]  JOHN     WILLIAMS.  177 

parliament  at  pleasure,  and  which  must  be  considered 
the  foundation  of  the  impending  revolution.  Long  be- 
fore the  King's  captivity,  the  House  of  Commons  had 
become  unpopular,  so  that  there  was  a  strong  reaction 
throughout  the  nation  in  his  favor;  and  if  he  could  have 
called  a  new  parliament  he  would  have  been  safe. 

But  Williams'  conduct  with  respect  to  Strafford  can  not 
be  defended.  In  the  first  place,  although  the  trial  for  the 
high  treason  was  causa  sanguinis, — he  contended,  contrary 
to  the  canons  and  immemorial  usage,  for  the  right  of  the 
Bishops  to  be  present  and  to  vote  upon  it,  and  that  they 
ought  to  exercise  this  right.1 

The  Bill  of  Attainder  being  passed,  although  he  pro- 
fessed to  disapprove  of  it,  he  agreed  to  go  with  three 
other  prelates  to  try  to  induce  the  King  to  assent  to  it, 
and  thus  he  stated  the  question  : — "  Since  his  Majesty 
refers  his  own  judgment  to  his  Judges,  and  they  are  to 
answer  it,  if  an  innocent  person  suffers, — why  may  he  not 
satisfy  his  conscience  in  the  present  matter,  since  com- 
petent Judges  in  the  law  have  awarded  that  they  find  the 
Earl  guilty  of  treason,  by  suffering  the  judgment  to  stand, 
though  in  his  own  mind  he  is  satisfied  that  the  party  con- 
victed was  not  criminous?"  The  other  three  Bishops, 
trusting  to  his  learning  and  experience,  joined  with  him 
in  sanctioning  this  distinction,  in  laying  all  the  blame  on 
the  Judges,  and  in  saying  that  the  King,  with  a  good  con- 
science, might  agree  to  Strafford's  death.  Clarendon 
mainly  imputes  Strafford's  death  to  Williams's  conduct  on 
this  occasion,  saying  that  "he  acted  his  part  with  pro- 
digious boldness  and  impiety."  It  is  stated  as  matter  of 
palliation  by  others,  that  Usher,  the  celebrated  Arch- 
bishop of  Armagh,  was  one  of  this  deputation,  and  that 
Strafford,  although  aware  of  the  advice  he  had  given,  was 
attended  by  him  on  the  scaffold,  and  received  from  him 
the  last  consolations  of  religion. 

Williams  now  visited  his  diocese,  and  tried  to  put  down 
unlicensed  preaching,  which  was  beginning  to  spread  for- 

1  There  is  a  striking  instance  of  the  inaccuracy  of  Lord  Clarendon  in  re- 
lating this  transaction.  He  strongly  blames  Williams  for  denying  the  right 
of  the  Bishops  to  be  present  and  to  vote — that  he  might  deprive  Strafford  of 
their  support ;  whereas  Racket  gives  at  full  length  a  very  long  speech  which. 
Williams  delivered,  to  prove  that  the  Bishops  on  trials  for  life  and  death  were 
to  sit  and  vote  like  other  Peers. — 3  St.  Tr.  823.  2  Parl.  Hist.  732.  In  capital 
cases  the  Bishops, always  withdraw  under  protest. 

III. 12 


178  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    7.  [1641. 

midably.  On  his  return,  being  violently  attacked  in  par- 
liament for  this  proceeding,  he  ably  defended  himself  in  a 
conference  between  the  two  Houses,  held  in  the  Painted 
Chamber. 

While  afraid  of  the  displeasure  of  the  popular  party,  a 
new  change  of  fortune  awaited  him.  It  was  said  he  ex- 
perienced almost  as  many  vicissitudes  as  Marius,  Consul 
toties  cxulque  ;  ex  exule  Consul.  Instead  of  being  sent  to 
Newgate,  as  he  expected,  by  the  influence  of  the  Puritans 
whom  he  had  protected, — he  was  made  by  the  King 
Archbishop  of  York,  and  placed,  de  facto,  at  the  head  of 
the  Church  of  England.  Laud,  the  Archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury, was  under  impeachment  in  the  Tower,  and  the 
clergy  of  the  establishment  looked,  as  their  last  hope,  to 
him  who  had  been  for  years  persecuted  and  imprisoned  as 
their  enemy. 


CHAPTER  LX. 

CONCLUSION   OF  THE   LIFE    OF   LORD   KEEPER  WILLIAMS. 

WILLIAMS  had  scarcely  taken  his  seat  in  the 
House  of  Lords  as  Metropolitan  when  he  had  to 
defend  the  right  of  his  order  to  sit  there.  A  Bill 
came  up  from  the  Commons  to  exclude  the  Bishops  en- 
tirely from  parliament,  and  to  disqualify  them  for  all 
secular  employments.  When  it  got  into  Committee,  he 
delivered  a  very  long  and  able  speech  against  it,  which 
made  such  an  impression  on  its  supporters,  that  it  was  al- 
lowed to  go  to  sleep  for  five  months.1  The  King  compli- 
mented him  on  this  occasion,  saying,  "  My  Lord,  I  com- 
mend you  that  you  are  no  whit  daunted  with  all  disasters, 
but  are  zealous  in  defending  your  order." — "  Please  it  your 
Majesty,"  replied  the  /hr/i-BISHOP,  "  I  am  a  true  Welsh- 
man, and  they  are  observed  never  to  run  away  till  their 
general  do  first  forsake  them.  No  fear  of  my  flinching 
whilst  your  Majesty  doth  countenance  our  cause." 

But  after  the  fatal  attempt  of  the  King  to  seize  the  five 
members  in  the  House  of  Commons,  all  hope  of  a  peace- 
able settlement  was  at  an  end.  The  cry  against  the 

1  2  Parl.  Hist.  794. 


1641.]  JOHN     WILLIAMS.  179 

Bishops  was  revived,  and  it  was  greatly  exasperated  by 
Williams  having,  as  Dean  of  Westminster,  gallantly  de- 
fended the  Abbey  against  a  mob  who  wished  to  seize  the 
regalia  deposited  there,  and  having  put  them  to  flight  by 
an  armed  force.  The  Bishops  were  threatened  with  per- 
sonal violence,  and  were  prevented  from  entering  the 
House  of  .Lords. 

Hereupon  Williams  drew  up  a  protest,  addressed  to  the 
King,  which  was  signed  by  himself  and  eleven  other  Pre- 
lates. After  dwelling  upon  their  privileges  as  a  con- 
stituent part  of  the  Assembly  and  one  of  the  estates  of 
the  realm,  "  they  humbly  protest,  before  his  Majesty  and 
the  noble  House  of  Peers,  that,  saving  unto  themselves  all 
their  rights  and  interests  of  sitting  and  voting  in  the 
House  at  other  times,  they  dare  not  sit  or  vote  in  the 
House  of  Peers  until  his  Majesty  shall  further  secure  them 
from  all  affronts,  indignities,  and  dangers.  And  whereas 
their  fears  are  not  built  upon  fantasies  and  conceits,  but 
upon  such  grounds  and  objects  as  well  may  terrify  men  of 
good  resolution  and  much  constancy,  they  do,  in  all  duty 
and  humility,  protest  against  all  laws,  orders,  votes,  reso- 
lutions, or  determinations,  as  of  themselves  null  and  of 
none  effect,  which,  in  their  forced  and  violent  absence, 
have  already  passed,  or  which,  during  their  forced  and 
violent  absence,  shall  hereafter  pass,  in  that  most  honor- 
able House." 

This  gave  furious  offense  to  the  Commons,  who  imme- 
diately complained  of  it  to  the  Upper  House, — and  all 
the  twelve  Prelates  who  signed  it  being  arrested,  ten  of 
them,  with  the  Archbishop  of  York  at  their  head,  were 
committed  to  the  Tower ;  the  other  two,  on  account  of 
their  age  and  infirmities  being  allowed  to  remain  in  the 
custody  of  the  Sergeant  at  Arms.1 

It  was  an  affecting  circumstance  that  the  two  Arch- 
bishops, who  had  so  long  been  foes,  were  now  both  in 
the  Tower;  and  it  is  recorded,  to  their  honor,  that,  in  a 
Christian  spirit,  forgetting  all  past  injuries  and  animosities, 
they  were  cordially  reconciled.  They  did  not  personally 
converse  together,  that  they  might  avoid  the  suspicion  of 
plots,  but  they  often  sent  each  other  messages  of  love 
and  consolation. 

The  Commons  oroceeded  with  articles  of  impeachment 

1  2  Parl.  Hist.  893. 


i8o          *  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.          [1642. 

for  high  treason  against  the  twelve  Bishops,  and,  after- 
wards, by  bill  of  attainder;  but  to  construe  into  high 
treason  a  protest  against  the  validity  of  the  acts  of  the 
assembly  of  which  they  were  members,  while  they  were 
by  violence  prevented  from  being  present,  was  too  flag- 
rantly unjust  even  for  those  times,  and  the  proceeding 
was  allowed  to  drop.1 

The  Bill  for  excluding  the  Bishops  from  sitting  in  par- 
liament now  passed  the  two  Houses  without  further  oppo- 
sition,2 and  the  question  arose,  whether  it  would  receive 
the  royal  assent  ?  Many,  who  thought  they  well  knew 
Charles,  believed  that  he  would  sooner  have  resigned  his 
crown  and  his  life  than  sanction  such  "  a  heavy  blow 
and  great  discouragement  to  the  Church."  What  was 
their  horror  when,  with  his  free  assent,  the  Act  became 
the  law  of  the  land  !  His  reluctance  is  said  to  have  been 
overcome  by  the  last  request  of  his  beloved  Henrietta,  as 
he  was  attending  her  embarkation  for  the  Continent  at 
Dover.  She  had  little  respect  for  Protestant  Prelates; 
she  had  been  persuaded  that  this  concession  would  so  far 
gratify  the  Commons,  that  they  would  forego  their  other 
demands;  and  she  was  always  more  influenced  by  the  love 
of  present  ease  than  by  a  strict  adherence  to  principle,  or 
the  apprehension  of  distant  consequences. 

Soon  after  this,  Williams  and  his  brethren  who  had  been 
committed  along  with  him,  were  liberated  ;  and  it  had 
been  well  for  the  reputation  of  the  Parliamentary  party 
if  Laud,  who  could  no  longer  be  formidable,  had  been 
included  in  the  order  for  their  discharge.  These  holy 
men,  when  at  large,  found  themselves  still  so  much  under 
popular  odium  in  the  metropolis,  that  it  was  necessary 
for  them  all  to  make  their  escape  into  the  country  as  soon 
as  possible.  While  they  lay  in  prison  ballads  were  com- 
posed upon  them,  and  they  were  made  the  subject  of 
caricatures,  for  which  the  English  were  beginning  to  show 
a  genius.  One  print,  that  had  a  great  sale,  represented 
the  Archbishop  of  York  in  his  lawn  sleeves  and  episcopal 
robes;  a  square  cap  on  his  head;  and  (to  celebrate  his 
defense  of  the  Abbey,  and  his  assault  on  the  populace) 
with  bandoleers  about  his  neck,  a  musket  on  his  shoulder, 
and  a  rest  in  his  hand.  By  these  means  he  became  as  un- 
popular as  Laud  had  ever  been,  and  instead  of  resuming 
1  4  St.  Tr.  63.  *  2  Parl<  Hist>  gl6- 


1643.]  JOHN     WILLIAMS.  181 

possession  of  the  Deanery,  he  found  it  necessary  to  fol- 
low the  King  to  York,  where  the  royal  standard  was  un- 
furled, and  preparations  were  proceeding  for  the  com- 
mencement of  hostilities. 

He  took  possession  of  Cavvood  Castle,  which  belonged 
to  his  see,  but  he  was  soon  obliged  to  fly  from  it  in  the 
dead  of  the  night.  Sir  John  Hotham  and  his  son,  who 
began  the  civil  war,  having  been  proclaimed  traitors  for 
refusing  to  admit  the  King  into  Hull,  made  a  sally  out  of 
that  town  with  the  design  of  taking  Cawood  Castle,  where 
the  Archbishop  was  collecting  men  and  provisions  for  the 
King's  use.  News  was  brought,  that  young  Hotham 
would  arrive  there  by  five  o'clock  next  morning  with  a 
large  force,  and  that  he  had  drawn  his  sword  in  "  a  hec- 
toring manner,"  uttering  a  vow  that  he  would  cut  off  the 
head  of  the  Archbishop  for  having  spoken  very  sharply 
against  his  disloyalty.  The  castle  was  in  a  ruinous  state, 
and. incapable  of  making  any  defense.  The  Archbishop, 
therefore,  was  obliged  to  effect  his  escape,  a  little  after 
midnight,  with  a  small  band  of  horsemen  and  the  few 
valuables  he  could  carry  with  him  at  so  short  a  warning. 
He  meant  to  seek  refuge  in  his  own  country,  and  he  set 
off "  without  a  sumpter-horse,  or  any  provision  for  his 
journey,  without  a  change  of  apparel,  and  almost  without 
money,  for  all  that  he  had  been  able  to  raise  among  his 
tenants  in  Yorkshire  he  had  sent  to  the  royal  treasury."  ' 

The  following  day  he  met  the  King  beating  up  for 
volunteers,  and  handed  over  to  him  the  stoutest  of  his 
mjn.  Having  received  a  royal  pass  to  carry  him  into 
Wales, — on  bended  knee,  with  tears  streaming  from  his 
eyes,  and  hearty  prayers  for  a  successful  issue  to  the 
coming  contest,  he  kissed  his  Majesty's  hand,  and  bade 
him  adieu, — believing  that  it  was  for  the  last  time.  He 
journeyed  on  with  a  very  slender  retinue,  and,  notwith- 
standing the  disturbed  state  of  the  country,  after  many 
alarms,  safely  reached  Aberconway,  near  fifty  years  from 
the  time  when  he  had  left  the  place  as  a  stripling. 

The  energy  of  his  character  continued  without  abate- 
ment. He  was  looked  up  to  with  great  pride  by  his 
countrymen,  as  one  of  the  few  Cambrians  who  had  risen 
to  high  distinction  in  England,  and  he  animated  them 
with  zeal  in  the  royal  cause.  To  draw  down  the  blessing 

1  Hacket,  part  ii.  208,  210. 


i82  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    /.  [1644. 

of  Heaven  upon  his  endeavors,  he  set  all  North  Wales  on 
a  more  earnest  practice  of  religion,  and  ordered  that 
frequent  prayers  should  be  put  up  in  all  churches,  with 
fasting, — and  he  himself  was  almost  daily  in  the  pulpit 
exhorting  his  hearers,  in  their  own  language,  to  defend  the 
mitre  and  the  crown.  The  emulation  of  the  great  famil- 
ies among  each  other  had  made  them  indifferent  to  the 
public  struggle  that  was  now  going  on,  but  he  contrived 
to  unite  them  all  in  one  common  resolution  to  resist  any 
invasion  by  the  parliamentary  generals.  For  nothing 
that  he  ever  did  was  he  so  much  praised  by  his  contempo- 
raries, as  for  the  manner  in  which  he  put  Conway  Castle  in 
a  state  of  defense.  He  found  it  a  ruin,  but  he  repaired 
its  walls,  threw  up  important  works  to  strengthen  it, 
victualed  it,  and  collected  a  stout  garrison  for  it,  which 
he  saw  regularly  trained. 

The  King  hearing  of  his  exertions,  sent  him  a  commis- 
sion signed  by  his  own  hand,  in  which,  after  much  praise 
bestowed  on  the  Archbishop,  and  noticing  the  importance 
of  Conway  Castle,  he  says,  "  You  having  begun  at  your 
own  charge  to  put  the  same  into  repair,  we  do  heartily 
desire  you  to  go  on  in  that  work,  assuring  you  that  what- 
soever moneys  you  shall  lay  out  upon  the  fortification  of 
the  said  castle,  shall  be  repaid  unto  you  before  the 
custody  thereof  shall  be  put  into  any  other  hand  than 
your  own,  or  such  as  you  shall  recommend."  l 

The  Archbishop,  in  consequence,  appointed  two  of  his 
nephews  to  hold  the  castle  for  him  ; — but,  as  we  shall  see, 
this  arrangement  was  unavailing,  and  he  met  with  an  un- 
grateful return  for  his  military  services. 

While  he  still  enjoyed  the  royal  favor,  he  repaired  to 
Oxford  in  consequence  of  a  summons  to  attend  his 
Majesty  during  the  sitting  of  a  rival  parliament  to  be  at- 
tempted there.  He  had  now  frequent  conferences  with 
Charles,  and  gave  him  some  prophetic  advice  about  Crom- 
well, who  was  yet  of  mean  rank,  but  whom  he  had  known 
at  Buckden.  Says  he,  "  That  Oliver  Cromwell,  I  am  full 
sure  will  turn  out  the  most  dangerous  enemy  your  Majesty 
has.  I  never  could  make  out  his  religion,  but  he  was  a 
common  spokesmen  for  sectaries,  and  maintained  their 
part  with  stubbornness.  He  loves  none  that  are  more 
than  his  equals.  Above  all  that  live,  I  think  he  is  the 

1  Hacket,  part  ii.  208,  210. 


1645.]  JOHN     WILLIAMS.  183 

most  mindful  of  an  injury.  He  talks  openly  that  it  is 
fit  some  should  act  more  vigorously  against  your  forces, 
and  bring  your  person  into  the  power  of  the  parliament. 
He  says,  'his  general,  the  Earl  of  Essex,  is  only  half  an 
enemy  to  your  Majesty.'  Every  beast  hath  some  evil 
properties ;  but  Oliver  Cromwell  hath  the  properties  of 
all  evil  beasts.  My  humble  motion  is,  either  that  you 
would  win  him  to  you  by  promises  of  fair  treatment,  or 
catch  him  by  some  stratagem,  and  c:it  him  short."  All 
this  the  King  received  with  a  smile  of  incredulity.1 

The  royal,  in  opposition  to  the  republican,  parliament 
assembled.  Such  respect  was  paid  to  the  last  regular 
statute  which  the  King,  Lords,  and  Commons  had  all  as- 
sented to,  that  Williams,  and  other  Bishops  then  at  Ox- 
ford, did  not  take  their  places  in  the  mock  House  of 
Lords,  presided  over  by  Lord  Keeper  Lane.3  However, 
the  King  paid  them  the  compliment  to  consult  them, — on 
which  occasion  Williams  made  him  a  long  speech,  par- 
ticularly complaining  of  the  irregularities  of  the  royal 
army.  "Your  soldiers,"  said  he,  "in  their  march  and 
quarters  are  very  unruly,  and  lose  the  people's  affections 
everywhere  by  the  oppressions  they  sustain."  He  re- 
commended specific  measures  and  concessions, — "with  in- 
demnity to  the  King's  adherents ;  for  we  save  a  ship  with 
the  loss  of  the  goods,  not  of  the  passengers  : — thus  con- 
cluding,— "But  if  your  Majesty  disdain  to  go  so  low,  and 
will  not  put  the  good  of  the  church  and  kingdom  upon 
their  faith,  to  which  misery  I  fear  our  sins  have  brought 
us,  I  am  ready  to  run  on  in  the  common  hazard  with  your 
Majesty  and  to  live  and  die  in  your  service."  Charles  pro- 
fessed to  receive  this  counsel  in  good  part,  and  when  Wil- 
liams took  leave,  again  expressly  charged  him  with  the  care 
and  government  of  all  North  Wales, — especially  of  Conway 
Castle.  Under  a  military  escort  he  safely  returned  thither. 

But  he  was  not  long  allowed  to  remain  in  his  command. 
The  royalist  leaders  were  not  satisfied  to  see  a  churchman 
sharing  their  power,  and  Prince  Rupert,  always  rash  and 
headstrong,  was  induced  to  grant  a  commission  to  Sir 
John  Owen,  an  officer  noted  for  violence  and  covetous- 

1  Hacket,  part  ii.  212. 

2  This  seems  to  have  given  offense  to  those  who  ought  to  have  constituted 
the  right  reverend  bench.     Hacket  says,  testily,  "  Oxford  wanted  not  Bishops 
at  this  time,  hut   they  were  excluded  to  sit  and  vote  as  Peers  in  parliament." 
— Part  ii.  214. 


184  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.  [1646. 

ness,  to  supersede  him.  The  inhabitants  of  the  surround- 
ing country  had  deposited  all  their  most  valuable  effects 
in  Conway  Castle,  and  the  Archbishop  had  made  himself 
personally  responsible  for  them.  When  required  to  resign, 
he  indignantly  denied  the  validity  of  Rupert's  commission, 
and  refused  admittance  to  the  new  Governor.  Sir  John 
Owen  thereupon  surprised  the  castle  by  a  large  military 
force,  and  scaling  the  walls  and  bursting  open  the  gates, 
he  took  possession  of  it,  with  all  the  ammunition,  stores, 
and  property  which  it  contained.  The  Archbishop  sent 
an  earnest  but  respectful  complaint  to  the  King  at  Oxford, 
but  could  gain  no  further  satisfaction  than  that  "  it  should 
be  considered  at  more  leisure."  He  remonstrated  no 
further,  "  lest  he  should  say  too  much,"  but  he  felt  deeply 
wounded  by  this  great  indignity. 

During  fifteen  months  he  remained  in  a  state  of  inac- 
tivity, hearing  of  the  field  of  Naseby  and  the  utter  ruin 
of  the  royal  party.  At  the  end  of  that  period,  he  engaged 
in  an  affair  which  has  brought  some  obloquy  upon  his 
memory.  Colonel  Milton,  a  parliamentary  officer,  who 
had  got  possession  of  Chester,  marched  with  a  con- 
siderable force,  across  the  Dee,  through  Flint  and  Den- 
bighshire, to  Conway  town,  and  prevailed  with  the  Arch- 
bishop to  enter  into  a  treaty  to  assist  him  to  take  the 
castle,  still  held  by  Sir  John  Owen  for  the  King.  The 
chief  condition  was,  that  those  who  had  deposited  their 
wealth  in  the  castle,  should  have  everything  restored  to 
them  which  had  escaped  the  rapacity  of  the  royalists. 
The  Archbishop  then  assembled  his  kindred  and  de- 
pendents, marched  at  their  head,  and  joined  Colonel 
Milton's  regular  troops  in  assaulting  the  castle.  The 
garrison  was  so  reduced  that  they  could  make  but  a  short 
and  ineffectual  resistance,  and  the  Archbishop  was  again 
master  of  the  fortress. 

He  reconciled  this  proceeding  to  his  principles  of  royalty 
by  his  old  casuistry,  "  licet  uti  alieno  peccato"  His  apolo- 
gist, admitting  that  "his  carriage  did  not  become  him  to 
thrust  himself  in  among  the  assailants,"  mitigates  his  mis- 
conduct by  the  quotation  from  Sallust,  "  non  minus  est 
turpe  sua  relinquere  quam  aliena  invader e  injttstum."  '  He 
was  loudly  accused  of  having  renounced  his  allegiance  and 
deliberately  gone  over  to  the  rebels :  but  though  the 

5  Racket,  part  ii.  220. 


1650.]  JOHN     WILLIAMS.  185 

royal  cause  was  then  desperate,  I  believe  his  great  object 
was  to  be  revenged  of  the  insult  offered  to  him  by  Sir 
John  Owen,  which  had  been  so  long  rankling  in  his  bosom. 

When  he  had  seen  all  the  property  found  in  the  castle 
restored  to  the  right  owners,  he  retired  to  the  house  of 
his  kinswoman,  the  Lady  Mostyn,  at  Clodded,  in  the 
parish  of  Eglwysrose,  in  the  county  of  Carnarvon,  where 
he  remained  till  his  death.  In  this  retreat  he  still 
anxiously  listened  to  the  news  brought  him  of  public 
affairs ;  and  if  his  loyalty  had  suffered  a  short  eclipse,  it 
now  shone  out  with  fresh  luster.  When  told  that  the 
King,  pressed  by  the  forces  under  Fairfax,  had,  by  the  ad- 
vice of  Monsieur  Montreville,  secretly  fled  from  Oxford, 
and  repaired  to  the  Scottish  army  before  Newark,  he 
wrung  his  hands,  saying,  "  What !  be  advised  by  a  stranger, 
and  trust  the  Scots  !  then  all  is  lost."  He  was  more  and 
more  afflicted  as  he  successively  heard  of  his  fears  being 
verified  by  the  treacherous  act  of  the  Scotch  army,  in  de- 
livering up  their  confiding  countryman  to  the  parliament, 
— of  his  being  seized  by  Joyce  and  the  Independents, — of 
his  flight  to  the  Isle  of  Wight, — of  the  disastrous  issue  of 
his  negotiations  at  Newport — of  his  being  made  a  close 
prisoner  in  London, — and  of  the  preparations  for  the  un- 
precedented proceeding  of  bringing  him  to  an  open  trial. 
But  when  the  news  arrived  that  Charles  had  been  found 
guilty  and  doomed  to  die, — and  that  the  sentence  had  ac- 
tually been  carried  into  execution  by  stiking  off  his  head 
on  a  scaffold  erected  in  front  of  his  own  palace  at  midday, 
before  hundreds  of  thousands  of  his  subjects, — the  aged 
Archbishop  fainted  away,  and  vowed  that  he  never  would 
take  comfort  more. 

He  survived  rather  more  than  a  year,  remaining  con- 
stantly in  bed,  except  that  every  night,  as  the  hall  clock 
struck  twelve,  he  rose,  and  having  nothing  but  his  shirt 
and  waistcoat  upon  him,  he  knelt  on  his  bare  knees  and 
prayed  earnestly  a  quarter  of  an  hour  before  he  retired  to 
his  rest  again — observing  the  season  of  midnight,  because 
the  Scriptures  speak  of  Christ's  coming  to  judge  the  quick 
and  the  dead  at  midnight, — and  the  burden  of  his  prayer 
being  "  Come,  Lord  Jesus,  come  quickly  and  put  an  end 
to  these  days  of  sin  and  misery."  He  longed  for  his  own 
deliverance,  saying,  "  I  am  ready  for  the  Lord." 

At  last,  when  his  strength  was  much  reduced,  he  was 


i86  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    I.          [1650. 

seized  with  a  sharp  attack  of  fever,  which  carried  him  off 
in  a. few  hours.  When  the  pangs  of  death  were  upon  him, 
after  the  Visitation  of  the  Sick  had  been  twice  read  over 
to  him,  and  he  had  received  absolution,  these  words  being 
repeated  by  the  priest  in  his  hearing,  the  Lord  be  merciful 
to  thce,  the  Lord  receive  thy  soul, — at  that  instant  he  first 
closed  his  own  eyes  with  one  hand,  and  then  lifting  up 
the  other,  his  lips  moved,  and,  recommending  his  spirit  to 
his  Redeemer,  he  expired.  His  death  happened  on  the 
25th  of  March,  the  day  of  his  birth, — when  he  completed 
his  sixty-eighth  year. 

Without  any  very  high  mental  endowments,  his  extreme 
industry  and  energy,  and  a  combination  of  fortuitous 
circumstances,  against  the  occurrence  of  which  the  prob- 
abilities were  incalculable,  raised  him  to  great  distinction, 
and  mingled  his  name  with  transactions  of  permanent 
public  interest.  He  will  always  be  memorable  in  English 
history  as  the  last  of  a  long  line  of  eminent  ecclesiastics, 
who,  with  rare  intervals,  held  for  many  centuries  the 
highest  judicial  office  in  the  kingdom,  and  exercised  a 
powerful  influence  over  the  destinies  of  the  nation.1 

All  accounts  represent  him  as  very  fiery  in  his  temper, 
by  which  he  was  betrayed  into  rash  measures,  and  gave 
great  offense, — some,  with  Lord  Clarendon  at  their  head, 
ascribing  this  to  systematic  arrogance  and  imperiousness, 
— while  his  good-natured  secretary  explains  away  his 
"  choler  and  high  stomach  "  by  his  Welsh  blood,  asserting 
that  he  was  speedily  appeased,  and  that  "  there  did  not 
live  that  Christian  that  hated  revenge  more  than  he,  or 
that  would  forgive  an  injury  sooner." 

Though  grasping  wealth  with  eagerness,  he  spent  it 
most  munificently.  While  he  held  the  Great  Seal  he  was 
too  much  devoted  to  the  duties  of  his  office  to  be  much 
given  to  hospitality  ;  but  when  he  retired,  one  of  his  de- 
tractors says,  "he  lived  at  Buckden  the  most  episcopal  of 
any  of  his  predecessors."3  His  house  was  open  to  all  his 
neighbors  of  all  degrees,  lay  and  spiritual,  and  when  per- 
sons of  distinction  were  traveling  that  way  he  sump- 

1  Humanly  speaking,  lucky  chances  must  be  considered  as  having  chiefly 
contributed  to  his  extraordinary  elevation,  notwithstanding  the  application  to 
him  of  the  quotation:  "  Cujus  ea  vis  fuisse  ingenii  ataue  animi  cernitur  ut 
quocunque  loco  natus  esset,  in  quodcunque  tempus  incidisset,  fortunam  ipse 
sibi  facturus  videatur." 

*  Sanderson's  King  James,  part  ii.  p.  507. 


JOHN     WILLIAMS.  187 

tuously  entertained  them  and  their  retinues.  He  was 
likewise  very  charitable  to  the  poor,  and  liberally  assisted 
scholars  of  merit  who  were  laboring  under  pecuniary  diffi- 
culties, till  he  could  permanently  provide  for  them. 

Although  supposed  to  favor  the  Puritans,  he  incurred 
great  scandal  with  that  sect  by  encouraging  stage  plays. 
He  used  to  have  the  players  down  from  London  to  Buck- 
den, — when  the  hall  of  the  episcopal  palace  was  converted 
into  a  theater,  where  comedies  were  performed — even  on 
a  Sunday.  Collier,  in  his  "  Annals  of  the  Stage,"  '  asserts 
that  "  The  Midsummer  Night's  Dream  "  was  exhibited 
there  on  Sunday,  the  27th  of  September,  1631  ;  and  others 
add,  that  on  that  very  day  he  had  held  an  episcopal  ordina- 
tion, so  that  the  play  was  for  the  amusement  of  the  young 
priests  and  deacons. 

It  is  difficult  to  get  at  the  truth  in  such  an  age  of  fac- 
tion;  and,  at  any  rate,  we  must  not  judge  of  an  individual 
wh_o  lived  two  centuries  ago  by  our  own  notions  of  pro- 
priety. It  was  long  after  the  Reformation,  before  there 
was  any  essential  change  in  manners  and  customs,  and 
Hacket, — himself  a  Bishop,  and  a  very  grave  and  decent 
divine, — without  making  any  admission,  or  entering  into 
any  specific  denial  respecting  these  charges,  asserts  "that 
Archbishop  Williams  did  no  more  in  recreating  himself 
with  such  diversions  at  Buckden  than  he  himself  had  seen 
that  grave  prelate,  Archbishop  Bancroft,  do  at  Lambeth." 
We  must  remember  that  King  James's"  Book  of  Sports," 
commanding  all  good  Christians  and  churchmen  to  play 
at  football  and  other  such  games  every  Sunday  afternoon, 
after  having  been  present  at  Divine  worship,  was  read 
during  the  morning  service  in  every  church  and  chapel  in 
the  kingdom. 

Williams  had  such  a  sincere  love  for  the  Liturgy  of  the 
Church  of  England,  that  he  caused  it  to  be  translated  into 
Spanish  and  other  foreign  languages.  He  regularly  kept 
up  religious  observances  in  his  family,  and  at  dinner  a 
chapter  was  read  in  the  English  Bible  daily  by  one  of  the 
choristers,  and  at  supper  another,  in  Latin,  by  one  of  his 
gentlemen. 

Some  accused  him  of  licentiousness,  and  it  was  loudly 
whispered  that  about  the  time  he  was  made  Lord  Keeper 

1  Vol.  ii.  27. 


1 88  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    /. 

he  had  an  intrigue  with  the  Countess  of  Buckingham.1 
Others  would  have  it  that  he  had  promised  to  marry  her, 
— that  having  got  the  Great  Seal  as  her  dowry,  he  refused 
to  perform  his  promise, — and  that  he  was  displaced  be- 
cause, "  now  being  come  to  the  height  of  his  preferment, 
hee  did  estrange  himselfe  from  the  old  Countesse." " 

Wilson,  in  his  History  of  King  James,  seeks  to  refute 
all  these  stories,  by  asserting  that  Williams  was  eunuclius 
ab  utero.  This  is  denied  by  Bishop  Hacket,  who,  however, 
relates  what  would  equally  answer  the  purpose — that 
while  a  little  boy  in  petticoats,  he,  along  with  his  play- 
mates, jumped  from  the  walls  of  Conway  in  a  windy  day, 
expecting  the  wind  to  inflate  their  clothes,  and  make  a 
parachute  for  them  ;  but  that,  while  the  rest  safely  reached 
the  ground,  he  fell  precipately  upon  a  ragged  stone,  by 
which  he  was  so  mutilated  that  he  could  never  have 
thought  of  marriage,  and  a  want  of  chastity  could  not  be 
imputed  to  him." 

This  statement  is,  in  all  probability,  correct ;  but 
Williams,  to  avoid  the  contempt  or  ridicule  which  might 
have  fallen  upon  him  if  it  had  been  known  that  he  had 
suffered  such  mutilation,  carefully  concealed  it  during  his 
lifetime,  and  talked  and  wrote  as  if  he  had  been  a  man 
of  perfect  integrity  both  in  body  and  mind.4  However, 
being  unmarried,— to  avoid  scandal,  he  kept  only  men 
servants  in  his  house.  To  this  circumstance  his  biograph- 
ers ascribe  its  dirtiness  and  its  disorders,  which,  they  say, 
are  best  prevented  by  female  superintendence.* 

He  was  a  remarkably  handsome  man  ;— "  his  person 
proper,  his  countenance  comely,  his  complexion  fair  and 
lovely,6  his  gait  so  stately  that  most  people  mistook  it  for 
pride."7 

Till  he  heard  of  Charles's  execution  he  was  merry  and 

This  story  even  reached  Scotland.     "  It  was  rumored  every  quher  that  hes 
too  grate  familiaritie  with  Buckinghame's  mother  procured  him  thesse  grate 
layers  and  preferments  one  a  suddaine."—  Salfour,  ii.  03. 
I  Weldop.  s  Hacket,  p.  8. 

..•f'T"1"  nis  letter  to  Buckingham  begging  the  deanery  of  Westminster,  he 
says,    'being  unmarried,  and  inclining  so  to  continue  " — and  his  conversation 
Prince  Charles  about  the  courtesan  with  whom  he  was   in  correspond- 
ence, rather  indicates  a  desire  that  he  should  be  considered  potentially  a 
libertine.—-*!!*,  p.  159.  5  Hacket.     Philips. 

l  his  corresponds  with  his  portraits  ;  all  of  which  that  I  have  seen  repre- 
t  him  wearing  a  broad-brimmed  hat,  such  as  that  in  which   Bradshaw 
bulhed-  '  Philips. 


JOHN     WILLIAMS.  189 

facetious  in  adverse  as  well  as  prosperous  fortune ;  but 
after  that  event,  if  he  would  converse  with  any  one,  it  was 
only  respecting  the  enormous  crime  of  Cromwell,  Brad- 
shaw,  and  the  other  regicides,  and  inquiring  whether  the 
Divine  vengeance  had  not  yet  overtaken  them? 

Like  his  great  predecessors,  Morton  and  Wolsey,  he  had 
the  sons  of  the  principal  nobility — of  the  Marquess  of 
Hertford,  and  the  Earls  of  Pembroke,  Salisbury,  and 
Leicester,  and  many  other  young  gentlemen — reared  in 
his  family  before  they  went  to  the  University.  They  were 
taught  the  classics  by  his  chaplains  ;  they  had  proper  in- 
struction in  all  manly  exercises  from  the  officers  of  his 
household  ;  and  he  himself  read  them  lectures  on  logic, 
and  catechised  them  in  religion  during  Lent. 

He  affected  to  rival  Wolsey  in  his  princely  expenditure 
on  public  buildings.  He  repaired  and  beautified  West- 
minster Abbey  at  his  own  expense.  He  rebuilt  Lincoln 
College,  Oxford,  merely  because  it  had  been  founded  by 
one" of  his  predecessors;  and  he  was  a  splendid  benefactor 
to  St.  John's  College,  Cambridge,  the  place  of  his  educa- 
tion. 

While  Lord  Keeper  he  embraced  an  opportunity  of  re- 
purchasing his  family  estate,  which  he  left,  though  con- 
siderably burdened  with  debt,  to  his  nephew  and  heir,  Sir 
Griffith  Williams. 

His  writings,  which  are  entirely  theological,  I  do  not 
presume  to  criticise.  They  had  long  fallen  into  oblivion, 
but  I  should  think  they  might  now  be  read  with  advan- 
tage in  the  Tractarian  controversy.  He  was  superior  in 
learning  and  acutenesss  to  Laud,  whose  reputation  is 
owing  to  the  illegal,  barbarous,  unprovoked  sentence 
passed  upon  him, — as  little  to  be  palliated  as  defended, — 
and  the  calm,  dignified,  and  courageous  manner  in  which 
he  met  it, — whereby  all  his  faults,  and  follies,  and  cruelties 
were  forgotten,  and  he,  who  if  he  had  been  left  alone 
would  have  sunk  into  oblivion,  or  remembered  only  for  his 
bigotry  and  intemperance,  is  now  regarded  as  a  martyr 
and  a  saint.1 

Williams's  printed  speeches  which  have  come  down  to 
us  show  a  vile  taste  in  oratory  and  composition.  They 
are  most  pedantic,  quibbling,  and  illogical. 

-"  Nothing  in  his  life 


Became  him  like  the  leaving  it." 


i'9o  CHANCELLORS    OF    JAMES    /. 

He  might  have  played  a  great  part,  first  in  opposing  the 
arbitrary  measures  of  the  Court  on  his  dismissal  from 
office,  and  afterwards  in  checking  the  excesses  of  the  par- 
liamentary party  when  he  was  released  from  the  Tower  at 
the  meeting  of  the  Long  Parliament ;  but  he  wanted 
moderation  and  firmness  of  purpose ;  he  could  not  com- 
mand the  support  of  his  own  friends,  and  he  was  con- 
stantly laying  himself  open  to  the  assaults  of  his  antago- 
nists. There  is  no  sufficient  ground  for  Clarendon's  cen- 
sure, that  he  was  "  a  man  of  a  very  corrupt  nature,  whose 
passions  transported  him  into  the  most  unjustifiable 
actions  ;"  but  still  less  can  he  be  taken  for  the  immaculate 
character  represented  by  Bishop  Racket, — although  it 
speaks  loudly  for  his  good  qualities,  that  he  so  powerfully 
attached  to  him  a  man  of  learning  and  discernment,  who 
had  known  him  most  intimately  for  many  years,  and  who 
continued  warmly  to  defend  him  after  his  disgrace,  and 
after  his  death.1 

Williams  was  buried  in  a  little  Welsh  church  near  Pen- 
rhyn,  where  a  monument  was  some  years  after  erected  to 
his  memory,  for  which  an  epitaph  was  written  by  the 
faithful  Racket, — recording  at  great  length  his  origin,  his 
accomplishments,4  and  his  services, — and  thus  conclud- 
ing :— 

"  Postquam  inter  tempora  luctuosissima 

Satur  esset  omnium  quse  videret  et  audiret, 

Nee  Regi  aut  Patrize  per  rabiem  perduellium  amplius  servire  potuit. 

Anno  Aetatis  680  expleto  Martis  25°  qui  fuit  ei  natalis 
Summa  fide  in  Christum,  inconcussa  erga  Regem  fidelitate 

Animam  angina  extinctus  piissime  Deo  reddidit. 
Nee  refert  quod  tantillum  monumentum  in  occulto  angulo  positum 

Tanti  viri  memoriam  servat, 

Cujus  virtutes  omnium  astatum  tempora  celebrabunt." 

1  Racket's  "  Scrinia  Reserata,  a  memorial  offered  to  the  great  deservings 
of  John  Williams,  D.D.,"  is  one  of  the  most  curious  pieces  of  biography  in 
our  language,  and  should  be  studied  by  all  who  would  thoroughly  understand 
the  history  of  the  reigns  of  James  I.  and  Charles  I.  Consisting  of  two  folio 
volumes,  generally  bound  up  together— what  it  contains  of  Williams  is  like 
two  grams  of  wheat  in  two  bushels  (not  of  chaff)  of  various  other  sorts  of 
gram— but  it  is  full  of  most  rare  quotations,  and  of  quaint  illustrations.  The 
author  must  have  been  a  man  of  extensive  learning  and  most  agreeable  con- 
versation :  he  makes  us  always  highly  pleased  with  himself,  if  not  with  his 
hero.  Dr.  Johnson  says,  rather  harshly,  "  This  book  is  written  with  such  de- 
pravity of  genius,  and  such  mixture  of  the  fop  and  the  pedant,  as  has  not 
often  appeared."  Philips's  "  Life  of  Williams,"  written  in  the  beginning  of 
the  last  century,  contains  little  additional  information,  and  is  a  work  of  very 
inferior  merit. 

*  (Inter  alia)  "  Novem  Linguarum  Thesaurus."  He  was  not  like  the  poly- 
glot Sir  William  Jones,  ignorant  of  his  mother-tongue  (Welsh). 


1625.]  LORD     COVENTRY.  191 


CHAPTER     LXI. 

LIFE   OF  LORD  KEEPER   COVENTRY   FROM  HIS  BIRTH  TILL 
THE  COMMENCEMENT  OF  THE  PROCEEDINGS  RESPECT- 
ING  SHIP   MONEY. 

WE  now  come  to  the  life  of  a  steady  lawyer, — regu- 
larly bred  to  the  bar, — by  "a  mixture  of 'good 
and  evil  arts  "  advancing  to  the  highest  honors 
of  his  profession, — of  powerful  though  not  brilliant  parts, 
— of  great  skill  in  his  own  science,  but  without  any  orna- 
mental accomplishments, — unscrupulous  where  any  great 
object  was  to  be  gained,  yet  with  tact  to  stop  without  too 
much  shocking  public  opinion, — though  unaided  by  prin- 
ciple, knowing  how  to  preserve  a  certain  reputation  for 
honesty, — uniformly  prosperous  while  living — and  fortu- 
nate in  his  death. 

The  Great  Seal  having  been  surrendered  up  by  Lord 
Keeper  Williams,  at  Foxley,  in  Wiltshire,  remained  with 
the  King  for  a  few  days  till  he  returned  to  Whitehall, 
and  on  the  ist  of  November,  1625,  was  delivered  to  Sir 
THOMAS  COVENTRY.1 

His  fa-mily  is  traced  to  an  inhabitant  of  the  city  of  Cov- 
entry, who,  coming  to  push  his  fortune  in  London  in  the 
reign  of  Henry  IV.,  took  the  name  of  his  native  place. 
He  left  a  son,  John,  who  being  an  eminent  mercer  rose  to 
be  Sheriff  in  1416,  and  Lord  Mayor  of  London  in  1425. 
He  is  much  celebrated  in  the  Chronicles  for  his  discreet 
carriage  in  the  struggle  which  took  place  during  his  May- 
oralty between  Humphrey,  Duke  of  Gloucester,  and  Henry 
Beaufort,  Bishop  of  Winchester,1  and  for  having  been 
appointed  one  of  the  executors  of  the  famous  Richard 
Whittington,  who  had  risen  to' be  thrice  Lord  Mayor  from 
having  had  no  property  in  the  world  but  his  cat.  He 
bought  an  estate  at  Cussington,  in  Oxfordshire,  long  pos- 
sessed by  his  posterity.  From  him  was  descended  Sir 
Thomas  Coventry,  a  very  learned  Judge  of  the  Court  of 
Common  Pleas  in  the  reign  of  James  I.,3  who  married  the 

1  Rot.  Pat.  i  Car.  I,  p.  24,  n  7.  s  Ante,  vol.  I.  p.  317. 

3  Appointed  Jan.  25,  1606.     See  in  Dugd.  Or.  Jur.  p.  97,  a  curious  account 
of  the  procession  on  this  occasion  from  Sergeants'  Inn  to  Westminster,  when 


192         CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    I.          [1625. 

heiress  of  a  family  of  the   name  of  Jeffreys,  settled   at 
Croome,  in  Worcestershire. 

Thomas,  the  Lord  Keeper,  was  their  eldest  son,  and 
was  born  there  in  the  year  1578.  He  was  an  instance,  not 
so  rare  in  former  as  in  more  recent  times,  of  the  son  of 
a  great  lawyer,  proving  a  greater  lawyer,  although  he 
labored  under  the  disadvantage  of  being  heir  to  consider- 
able wealth,  both  by  his  father's  and  mother's  side.  But 
he  showed  from  infancy,  uncommon  quickness  and  vigor 
of  application.  He  remained  under  the  paternal  roof 
with  a  private  tutor  till  he  was  fourteen,  when  he  was  en- 
tered a  gentleman  commoner  at  Baliol  College,  Oxford. 
He  resided  there  three  years,  till  he  took  his  Bachelor's 
degree.  He  was  then  removed  to  the  Inner  Temple  of 
which  his  father  was  a  bencher,  and  he  now  diligently 
devoted  himself  to  the  study  of  the  law.  Instead  of  making 
acquaintance  with  William  Shakespeare,  or  any  of  Bur- 
bage's  company  of  players,  he  attached  himself  to  Sir  Ed- 
ward Coke,  then  Attorney  General.  To  law  students  and 
worshippers  of  his  greatness,  this  tyrant  of  the  bar  was 
condescending  and  kind,  carrying  them  with  him  to 
public  disputations,  directing  their  private  reading,  and 
warning  them  against  prepropera  praxis  as  well  as  pre- 
postera  lectio. 

When  called  to  the  bar,  young  Coventry's  progress  was 
slow  but  sure.  In  1606  his  father  died,  and  it  was  ex- 
pected that  he  would  have  retired  to  the  family  estates ; 
but  he  was  ambitious,  and  he  continued  assiduously  to 
follow  his  profession  in  the  hope  of  political  advancement. 

So  great  did  his  reputation  become  in  the  course  of  a 
few  years,  without  the  prestige  of  office,  that  when  Sir 
Edward  Coke  was  to  be  dismissed  from  the  Chief  Justice- 
ship of  the  King's  Bench,  Coventry,  only  thirty-seven 
years  old,  was  designated  by  the  public  voice  as  his  suc- 
cessor. Bacon,  however,  who  had  then  a  powerful  ascen- 
dency, disliked  him  for  having  been  protected  by  Coke, 
and  thus  wrote  to  James: — 

"I  send  a  warrant  to  the  Lord  Chancellor  for  making 
forth  a  writ  for  a  new  Chief  Justice,  leaving  a  blank  for 
the  name,  to  be  supplied  by  your  Majesty's  presence ;  for 
I  never  received  your  Majesty's  express  pleasure  in  it.  If 

the    frightful    mistake  was  committed  of  making  those  of  highest  dignity 
march  first,  so  that  the  students  of  the  inns  of  Chancery  came  last. 


i62i.]  LORD     COVENTRY.  193 

your  Majesty  resolve  of  Montagu,  as  I  conceive  and  wish, 
it  is  very  material,  as  these  times  are,  that  your  Majesty 
have  some  care  that  the  Recorder  succeeding  be  a  temper- 
ate and  discreet  man,  and  assured  to  your  Majesty's  ser- 
vice. If  your  Majesty,  without  too  much  harshness,  can 
continue  the  place  within  your  own  servants,  it  is  best. 
If  not,  the  man  upon  whom  the  choice  is  likely  to  fall 
(which  is  Coventry)  I  hold  doubtful  for  your  service;  not 
but  that  he  is  a  well  learned  and  honest  man ;  but  he 
hath  been,  as  it  were,  bred  by  Lord  Coke,  and  seasoned  in 
his  ways." ' 

Montagu  was  appointed  Chief  Justice ;  and  Coventry 
contriving  to  make  it  understood  that,  however  much  he 
respected  the  learning  of  his  old  master,  he  could  not  but 
lament  his  recent  popular  courses,  was  permitted  to  suc- 
ceed as  Recorder  of  London.  An  adhesion  to  ancient 
friendships,  and  a  recollection  of  benefits  received,  do  not 
seem  in  those  days  to  have  stood  much  in  the  way  of  pro- 
motion. 

Having  lost  his  first  wife,  who  was  of  an  ancient  Wor- 
cestershire family,  he  now  married  "  the  widow  of  a  citi- 
zen.— lovely,  young,  rich,  and  of  good  fame."  "  We  may 
represent  his  happiness,"  says  his  biographer,  "  in  nothing 
more  than  this,  that  London  had  first  given  him  the 
handsel  o-f  a  place  both  honorable  and  gainful,  together 
with  a  wife  as  loving  as  himself  was  uxorious  ;  and  of  that 
sort  which  are  not  unaptly  styled  housewives ;  so  that 
these  two  drew  diversely,  but  in  one  way,  and  to  one  and 
the  self-same  end, — he  in  the  exercise  of  his  profession — • 
she  in  the  exercise  of  her  domestic ;  for  they  that  knew 
the  discipline  of  their  house  aver,  that  he  waved  that 
care  as  a  contiguous  distraction  to  his  vocation,  and  left 
her  only  as  a  helper  to  manage  that  charge  which  best 
suited  to  her  conversation."2 

Coventry  so  rapidly  got  rid  of  all  suspicion  of  favoring 
Sir.  E.  Coke,  that  on  the  I4th  of  March  in  the  following 
year  he  was  made  Solicitor  General ;  and  two  days  after, 
going  down  to  Theobald's  to  be  presented  to  the  King,  he 
received  the  honor  of  knighthood. 

He  was  counsel  for  the  Crown  on  the  trial  of  the 
Somersets  for  the  murder  of  Sir  Thomas  Overbury,  and  in 

1  Bac.  Works,  vi.  131. 

2  MS.  Life  of  Lord  Coventry  in  the  British  Museum. 

HI. — f3 


i94  CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    I.       [1621. 

all  the  state  prosecutions  which  followed  for  some  years  ; 
but  either  from  his  own  inclination,  or  the  jealousy  of 
the  King's  Sergeant  and  the  Attorney  General,  he  did 
not  act  a  conspicuous  part  in  any  of  them.  Nevertheless 
he  managed  not  only  to  enjoy  favor  while  Lord  Bacon 
was  Chancellor,  but  on  the  disgrace  of  that  great  states- 
man, in  which  Yelverton,  the  Attorney  General  shared, 
to  intrigue  himself  into  the  office  of  Attorney  General. 

His  great  object  was  quietly  to  nurse  his  fortune.  He 
devoted  himself  to  the  discharge  of  his  professional  duties, 
and  to  gaining  the  good  graces  of  all  those  who  might 
serve  him.  He  not  only  cultivated  Buckingham  assidu- 
ously, but  supported  the  new  Lord  Keeper  Williams  in 
the  Court  of  Chancery,  and  tried  to  veil  his  deficiencies 
in  legal  acquirements,  till  it  was  evident  that  the  Bishop's 
official  career  was  drawing  to  a  close.  The  Great  Seal 
being  then  within  his  own  grasp,  it  would,  perhaps,  have 
been  too  much  to  have  expected  that  he  should  not,  by 
a  few  winks  and  shrugs,  and  stories  of  the  Welshman's 
towering  passions  and  ludicrous  blunders,  seek  to  precipi- 
tate his  fall. 

The  only  public  prosecution  I  find  him  conducting 
while  Attorney  General,  was  that  against  Edward  Floyde, 
for  slandering  the  King  and  Queen  of  Bohemia.  This 
case  has  been  grossly  misrepresented  or  misunderstood, 
and  I  am  glad  of  an  opportunity  to  explain  it.  It  has 
been  often  cited  as  an  instance  of  the  abusive  exercise  of 
parliamentary  privilege,  whereas  it  was  an  instance  of 
parliamentary  impeachment.  Floyde,  a  Catholic  barrister, 
having  said,  "  I  have  heard  that  Prague  is  taken  ;  and 
Goodman  Palsgrave,  and  Goodwife  Palsgrave,  have  taken 
to  their  heels  and  run  away,  and,  as  I  have  heard,  Good- 
wife  Palsgrave  is  taken  prisoner,"— the  Protestant  zeal  of 
the  country  was  very  much  excited,  and  the  House  of 
Commons,  whose  powers  were  as  yet  very  undefined,  took 
the  case  up  as  a  fit  subject  of  impeachment,  and  con- 
tended that  they  had  judicial  criminal  jurisdiction  as 
much  as  the  Lords.  They  never  pretended  that  any 
offense  had  been  given  to  their  body,  or  any  member  of 
it ;  but  they  alleged  that  a  public  crime  had  been  com- 
mitted, of  which  they  had  cognizance.  Floyde  was  ac- 
cordingly "  impeached  before  the  Commons  in  Parlia- 
ment assembled,"  and  the  words  being  proved,  a  heavy 


1625.]  LORD     COVENTRY.  195 

sentence  was  passed  upon  him.  He  appealed  to  the  King, 
who  next  morning  sent  to  the  Commons  to  inquire  on 
what  precedents  they  grounded  their  claim  to  judge 
offenses  which  did  not  concern  their  privileges,  and  by 
what  reasoning  it  could  be  shown,  that  a  court  which  did 
not  receive  evidence  upon  oath,  could  justly  condemn  a 
prisoner  who  asserted  his  innocence.  This  led  to  a  con- 
ference between  the  two  Houses,  the  Lords  contending 
that  their  judicature  was  trenched  upon — and  the  leaders 
of  the  Commons  finding  that  this  new  pretension  could 
not  be  supported,  it  was  agreed  that  Floyde  should  be 
impeached  before  the  Lords, — an  entry  being  made  in  the 
Journals  to  soften  the  defeat,  "  that  his  trial  before  the 
Commons  should  not  prejudice  the  rights  of  either 
House." 

Coventry  now  conducted  the  prosecution  at  the  bar  of 
the  House  of  Lords,  not  as  Attorney  General,  but  as  man- 
ager, for  the  Commons.  He  stated  the  case  with  modera- 
tion, and  proved  it  by  certain  written  depositions  which 
he  read.  The  defendant  having  been  heard,  he  was  found 
guilty  nemine  dissentiente. 

Coventry  then  came  to  the  clerk's  table,  and  recapiulat- 
ing  his  offense,  prayed  judgment  against  him,  whereupon 
sentence  was  pronounced,  "  That  he  should  be  incapable 
to  bear  arms  as  a  gentleman, — that  he  should  ever  be  held 
infamous,  and  his  testimony  not  taken  in  any  court  or 
cause, — that  he  should  be  set  on  a  horse's  back  at  West- 
minster Hall,  with  his  face  to  the  horse's  tail,  and  holding 
the  tail  in  his  hands,  with  papers  on  his  head  and  breast 
declaring  his  offense, — that  he  should  ride  to  the  pillory  in 
Cheapside,  there  to  stand  two  hours  on  the  pillory,  and 
be  branded  on  the  forehead  with  the  letter  K., — that  he 
should  on  a  subsequent  day  be  whipped  from  the  Fleet 
to  Westminster  Hall,  at  the  cart's  tail,  and  then  stand  on 
the  pillory  there  two  hours, — that  he  should  be  fined  in 
the  sum  of  £5,000, — and  that  he  should  be  imprisoned  in 
Newgate  during  life."  So  shocked  were  the  Lords  them- 
selves with  this  inhuman  punishment,  that  they  made  a 
standing  order,  "  That  in  future,  when  upon  any  person 
prosecuted  before  the  House,  being  found  guilty,  judg- 
ment shall  not  be  given  till  a  future  day,  that  time  may 
be  taken  to  consider  thereof."  Still  upon  this  occasion, 
the  Lords  were  acting  in  the  exercise  of  their  power  of 


196          CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    I.       [1625. 

trying  commoners  for  misdemeanors  on  the  accusation  of 
the  Commons,  and  there  is  no  pretense  for  citing  the  case 
to  throw  odium  upon  parliamentary  privilege.1 

Buckingham  had  found  it  difficult  to  get  rid  of  Williams 
as  Lord  Keeper  in  the  latter  end  of  James's  reign,  but  he 
held  the  Crown  in  his  pocket  on  the  accession  of  "  Baby 
Charles."  Sir  Henry  Hobart,  the  Chief  Justice  of  the 
Common  Pleas,  who  was  first  thought  of  for  the  Great 
Seal,  having  shown  some  symptoms  of  independence,  the 
dictator  resolved  to  give  it  to  the  discreet  Coventry,  on 
whom  he  thought  he  might  implicitly  rely.  He  accord- 
ingly wrote  him  an  offer  "  to  step  into  the  shoes  of  my 
Lord  of  Lincoln,"  giving  him  time  to  consider  of  it.  Mr. 
Attorney  returned  an  answer,  in  which  he  declares  that 
he  had  undergone  a  sharp  conflict  and  perplexity  of 
thoughts  in  measuring  his  fitness  for  such  promotion,  but 
concludes  by  expressing  the  dutiful  resolution,  "to  lay 
himself  in  all  humility  and  submission  at  the  feet  of  his 
Sovereign,  to  dispose  of  him  as  should  seem  best  to  his 
own  princely  wisdom  and  goodness,"  which,  says  he,  "  if 
it  be  that  way  as  your  Grace  told  me  his  Highness  did  in- 
cline, I  shall  dutifully  obey,  and  faithfully  undergo  it,  my 
hope  being  that  God  and  the  King's  Majesty  will  bear 
with  my  infirmities,  and  accept  my  true  heart  and  willing 
endeavor." 

Before  his  formal  appointment,  when  his  approaching 
elevation  was  known,  Lord  Bacon,  now  living  in  retire- 
ment in  his  chambers  in  Gray's  Inn,  applied  to  him  to 
provide  for  an  old  dependent  who  had  been  cast  away 
like  his  master,  and  was  now  in  great  straits.  Coventry's 
refusal  is  unfeeling  and  discreditable.  After  adverting  to 
Bacon's  polite  compliment,  on  his  elevation,  and  declaring 
"his  unaptness  to  so  great  an  employment,  nothingtheless 

1  2  St.  Tr.  1153.  The  sentence  is  happily  ridiculed  by  Sheridan,  who  said 
of  a  person  who  had  published  a  pamphlet  against  him  :  "  I  suppose  that 

Mr- thinks  I  am  angry  with  him  ;  but  he  is  mistaken  for  I  never  harbor 

resentment.  If  his  punishment  depended  on  me,  I  would  show  him  that  the 
dignity  of  my  mind  is  superior  to  all  vindictive  feelings.  Far  should  I  be 
from  wishing  to  inflict  a  capital  punishment  upon  him  grounded  on  his  attack 
upon  me  ;  but  yet,  on  account  of  his  general  character  and  conduct,  and  as  a 
warning  to  others,  I  would  merely  order  him  to  be  publicly  whipped  three 
times  ;  to  be  placed  in  the  pillory  four  times ;  to  be  confined  in  prison  sever 
years  ;  and  then,  as  he  would  enjoy  freedom  the  more  after  so  long  a  ccn- 
finement,  I  would  have  him  transported  for  the  remainder  of  his  life."— 
2  John  Taylor's  Records,  174, 


1625.]  LORD     COVENTRY.  197 

his  submission  to  stand  in  that  station  where  his  Majesty 
will  have  him,"  he  says — "  as  for  the  request  you  make  for 
your  servant,  though  I  protest  I  am  not  yet  engaged  by 
promise  to  any,  because  I  held  it  too  much  boldness 
towards  my  Master,  and  discourtesy  towards  my  Lord 
Keeper,  to  dispose  of  places  while  he  had  the  Seal ;  yet 
in  respect  I  have  some  servants,  and  some  of  my  kindred 
apt  for  the  place  you  speak  of,  and  have  been  already  so 
much  importuned  by  noble  persons  when  I  lately  was 
with  his  Majesty  at  Salisbury,  as  it  will  be  hard  for  me  to 
give  them  all  denial ;  I  am  not  able  to  discern  how  I  am 
able  to  accommodate  your  servant,  though  for  your  sake, 
and  in  respect  of  the  former  knowledge  myself  have  had 
of  the  merit  and  worth  of  the  gentleman,  I  should  be 
most  ready  and  willing  to  perform  your  desire,  if  it  were 
in  my  power."  How  different  from  this  heartless  civility 
would  have  been  his  reply  to  a  worthless  courtier  basking 
in  the  sunshine  of  court  favor. 

The  new  Lord  Keeper  was  appointed  by  patent, 
whereby  he  was  empowered  "  to  hear,  examine,  and  de- 
termine such  causes,  matters,  and  suits  as  shall  happen  to 
be,  as  well  in  the  Chancery  as  in  the  Star  Chamber,  like 
as  the  Chancellor  of  England  might  and  was  accustomed 
to  do."  The  Close  Roll  of  this  year  is  lost,  and  I  find  no 
account  of  the  delivery  of  the  Great  Seal  to  him  by  the 
King,  or  of  his  installation. 

He  set  to  work  very  assiduously  in  the  Court  of  Chan- 
cery, and  there  were  many  rehearings  before  him — as  he 
was  considered  an  accomplished  Equity  lawyer,  and  so 
little  confidence  could  be  placed  in  the  skill  of  his  right 
reverend  predecessor.  He  is  said  to  have  behaved  with 
great  moderation,  always  speaking  of  Williams  respect- 
fully, reversing  as  seldom  as  possible,  and  under  color  of 
some  fresh  evidence,  or  of  some  new  point  being  taken 
before  him. 

"At  his  first  accession  to  the  Seal,  he  found  200  causes 
in  the  paper  ready  for  hearing,  all  which  (with  such  as  fell 
in  the  way)  he  determined  within  the  year,  so  that  the 
clients  of  the  Court  did  not  languish  in  expectation  of  the 
issue  of  their  causes." 

But  although  he  was  allowed  to  be  an  able  Judge,  it  is 
plain  that  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Court  was  still  in  a  very 

1  Life  of  Lord  Coventrie,  in  the  British  Museum. 


i98          CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    7.        [1626. 

unsettled  state.  We  have  a  report  of  one  of  the  earliest 
cases  before  him,  showing  that,  while  he  decided  legal 
rights  himself,  when  difficult  questions  of  equity  arose, 
he  sent  a  case  to  the  common-law  Judges.1 

A  commission  was  issued  to  Sir  Julius  Caesar,  Master 
of  the  Rolls,  and  others,  to  assist  him  in  hearing  causes ; 
but  unless  at  the  commencement  of  his  judicial  career, 
he  had  no  distraction  from  parliaments,  and  he  himself 
did  the  great  bulk  of  the  business  of  the  Court.* 

In  his  second  term  he  took  his  place  on  the  woolsack, 
and  was  obliged  to  watch  over  a  short  but  stormy  session. 

One  reason  of  Charles  I.'s  dislike  of  Parliaments  may 
have  been  his  repugnance  to  speaking  in  public,  from  the 
hesitation  in  his  utterance.  At  the  opening  of  his  second 
parliament,  he  merely  said  that  he  hated  long  speeches, 
and  was  not  a  very  good  hand  at  speaking,  and  therefore 
he  meant  to  bring  in  the  old  custom  which  many  of  his 
predecessors  had  used — that  my  Lord  Keeper  should  ex- 
plain the  royal  will. 

The  Lord  Keeper,  going  through  the  usual  form  of  con- 
ferring with  the  King,  as  if  taking  instructions  from  him 
at  the  moment,  then  made  a  long  and  elaborate  oration. 
The  practice  of  taking  a  text  of  Scripture  for  a  theme, 
which  we  have  so  often  noticed,  had  now  fallen  into  des- 
uetude, and,  I  believe,  was  never  adopted  by  lay  Chaji- 
cellors.  Coventry,  having  dwelt  much  upon  the  use  of 
parliaments,  proceeded  to  an  eulogium  on  the  new  Sover- 
eign, "  who  doth  strive  whether  he  should  be  accounted 
major  or  melior,  a  greater  King  or  a  better  man,"  justly 
complimenting  him  on  "  his  daily  and  unwearied  access  to 
this  House  before  his  access  to  the  Crown,  and  his  gra- 
cious readiness  in  all  conferences  of  importance."  '  Then 
came  a  declaration  of  his  Majesty's  good  intentions  dur- 
ing his  future  reign.  "  For  his  Majesty  doth  consider  that 

1  See  Farmer  v.  Compton.  Chancery  Reports  in  reign  of  Charles  I.,  p.  I. 

*  At  this  time  the  judicial  and  political  duties  of  the  Lord  Chancellor 
clashed  much,  for  the  Court  of  Chancery  and  the  House  of  Lords  both  met 
punctually  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning.  The  Commons  assembled  at  the 
same  hour— never  sitting  later  than  twelve,  and  giving  the  afternoon  to  com- 
mittees. 

3  Notwithstanding  the  errors  into  which  Charles  was  led  when  he  came  to 
the  throne,  it  is  impossible  not  to  admire  his  amiable  and  praiseworthy  de- 
meanor during  his  father's  lifetime.  The  Journals  of  the  House  of  Lords 
show  that  he  was  constant  in  his  attendance  there,  and  he  seems  to  have  been 
ever  anxious  to  quiet  all  disputes,  and  to  do  a  good  turn  to  everybody. 


1625.]  LORD     COVENTRY.  199 

the  royal  throne  on  which  God,  out  of  his  mercy  to  us, 
hath  set  him,  is  the  fountain  of  all  justice,  and  that  good 
laws  are  the  streams  and  rills  by  which  the  benefit  and  use 
of  this  fountain  is  dispersed  to  his  people.  And  it  is  his 
Majesty's  care  and  study  that  his  people  may  see,  with 
comfort  and  joy  of  heart,  that  this  fountain  is  not  dry."  l 

Coventry  was  not  yet  a  Peer,  and  he  acted  only  as 
Speaker  in  putting  the  question,  without  taking  a  share  in 
the  debates  ;  but  he  must  be  considered  responsible  for 
the  measures  of  the  government  as  far  as  law  was  con- 
cerned, and  they  were  very  unfortunate.  The  Commons 
were  incensed  by  the  trick  of  trying  to  disqualify  Sir 
Edward  Coke  and  several  of  the  popular  leaders,  by  nom- 
inating them  Sheriffs  of  their  counties.8 

The  same  policy  was  pursued,  with  the  like  effect,  in 
the  Upper  House.  Buckingham,  dreading  the  disclosures 
which  might  be  made  respecting  his  Spanish  negotiations 
by  the  Earl  of  Bristol,  a  writ  of  summons  was  not  sent  to 
that  nobleman ;  and  on  this  being  complained  of  as  a 
breach  of  privilege,  the  Lord  Keeper  accompanied  the 
writ  with  a  mandate,  that  "his  Lordship's  personal  attend- 
ance should  be  forborne."  Bristol  insisting  on  his  right  to 
take  his  seat  as  a  Peer,  the  Attorney  General  was  directed 
to  exhibit  articles  of  impeachment  against  him  for  high 
treason,  and  he  was  committed  to  the  Tower.  But  these 
violent  proceedings  only  irritated  both  Houses  the  more. 
The  Commons  impeached  Buckingham,  and  the  Lords 
showed  no  disinclination  to  listen  to  the  charges  against 
him.  Notwithstanding  an  urgent  letter  of  the  King  to 
the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons  to  hasten  the  sup- 
ply, they  there  talked  only  of  grievances ;  and  Clement 
Coke,  Sir  Edward's  eldest  son,  said,  "  it  was  better  to  die 
by  an  enemy  than  to  suffer  at  home." 

By  the  Lord  Keeper's  advice  both  Houses  were  sum- 
moned to  attend  the  King  at  Whitehall, — when  the  King 
gently,  and  the  Lord  Keeper  bitterly,  reproached  them 
for  their  refractory  conduct.  The  latter  was  particularly 
severe  upon  the  Commons  for  the  language  they  had  per- 
mitted Clement  Coke  to  hold  among  them, — dwelt  upon 

1  z  Parl.  Hist.  39. 

3  I  have  often  thought  that  it  must  have  been  an  amusing  spectacle  at  the 
Bucks  assizes,  to  see  the  great  Ex-Chief  Justice  with  his  white  wand  attending 
the  Judges,  who  must  have  found  it  very  convenient,  if  they  were  puzzled  by 
any  point  of  law  which  arose,  to  take  the  opinion  upon  it  of  the  High  Sheriff. 


200          CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    I.        [1626. 

their  unfounded  charges  against  the  Duke  of  Bucking- 
ham,— and  went  through  all  their  proceedings  since  the 
commencement  of  the  session,  which,  he  said,  showed  an 
entire  forgetfulness  of  duty.1  The  King  at  parting,  no 
doubt  prompted  by  Coventry,  plainly  intimated  to  them 
that,  as  parliaments  were  altogether  in  his  power  for  their 
calling,  sitting,  and  dissolution,  if  they  were  not  more 
submissive  he  must  govern  without  them.' 

A  curious  constitutional  question  arose  a  few  days  after, 
which  very  much  perplexed  the  Lord  Keeper,  and  remains 
to  this  day  undetermined.  The  Earl  of  Bristol,  in  his  de- 
fense, relied  upon  communications  which  had  passed  be- 
tween him  and  the  King,  when  Prince,  at  Madrid,  and  to 
prove  these  proposed  to  call  the  King  himself  as  a  wit- 
ness. The  Lord  Keeper  gave  it  as  his  opinion,  that  the 
Sovereign  can  not  be  examined  in  any  judicial  proceeding 
under  an  oath,  or  without  an  oath,  as  he  is  the  fountain 
of  justice,  and  since  no  wrong  may  be  imputed  to  him, 
the  evidence  would  be  without  .temporal  sanction.  On 
the  other  side  they  pointed  out  the  hardship  of  an  in- 
nocent man  being  deprived  of  his  defense  by  the  heir  to 
the  Crown  becoming  King,  and  urged  that  substantial 
justice  ought  to  be  paramount  to  all  technical  rules. 

A  proposal  was  made  which  could  not  be  resisted,  that 
the  Judges  should  be  consulted, — and  two  questions  were 
propounded  for  their  consideration:  I.  "Whether,  in 
case  of  treason  or  felony,  the  King's  testimony  was  to  be 
admitted  or  not?"  2.  "Whether  words  spoken  to  the 
Prince,  who  is  after  King,  makes  any  alteration  in  this 
case?"  But  when  the  Judges  met  on  a  subsequent  day, 
the  Lord  Chief  Justice  declared  that  his  Majesty,  by  his 
Attorney  General,  had  informed  them  that,  "  not  being 
able  to  discern  the  consequence  which  might  happen  to 
the  prejudice  of  his  crown  from  these  general  questions, 
his  pleasure  was  that  they  should  forbear  to  give  an 
answer  thereto." s 

1  One  complaint  which  he  makes  shows  how  searching  the  inquiries  were 
which  the  popular  leadets  were  now  disposed  to  institute,  and  excuses  the 
warrants  of  Secretaries  of  State  to  open  letters  at  the  Post  Office.  "  Your 
committees  have  presumed  to  examine  the  letters  of  secretaries  of  state,  nay 
his  own  (the  King's),  and  sent  a  general  warrant  to  his  signet  office,  and  com- 
manded his  officers  not  only  to  produce  and  show  the  records,  hut  their  books 
and  private  notes  which  they  made  for  his  Majesty's  service.  This  his  Majesty 
holds  as  insufferable  as  it  was  in  former  times  unusual."  2  2  Parl.  Hist.  60. 

3  I  humbly  apprehend  that  the  Sovereign,  if  so  pleased,  might  be  examined 


1628.]  LORD     COVENTRY.  201 

The  Lord  Keeper  further  increased  the  irritation  in  the 
Lords  by  committing  to  the  Tower  the  Earl  of  Arundel, 
Earl  Marshal,  for  marrying,  without  the  King's  consent, 
his  son  to  a  daughter  of  the  Duke  of  Lennox,  allied  to 
the  royal  family.  The  Lords  voted  his  imprisonment 
pending  the  session  an  infringment  of  their  privileges, 
and  refused  to  proceed  with  any  business  till  he  was 
restored  to  liberty.  This  interposition  was  a  heavy  blow 
to  the  Court,  as  he  held  five  proxies,  which  he  was  resolved 
to  use  in  favor  of  Bristol  and  against  Buckingham. 

Seeing  that  all  threats  and  violent  measures  were  un- 
availing to  sway  the  parliament,  the  usual  resolution  of 
the  Stuarts  under  such  circumstances  was  taken — of  an 
abrupt  dissolution.  The  Lords  so  far  sympathized  with 
the  Commons,  that,  hearing  of  what  was  intended,  they 
petitioned  the  King  for  a  short  delay.  His  answer,  the 
Lord  Keeper  being  at  his  elbow,  was,  "  No,  not  of  one 
minute."  ' 

Angry  recriminations  were  circulated  through  the 
country,  under  the  titles  of  "The  King's  Reasons  for  dis- 
solving Parliament,"  and  "  The  intended  Remonstrance 
of  the  Commons."  The  Earls  of  Bristol  and  Arundel, 
with  the  popular  leaders  of  the  Commons,  were  im- 
prisoned by  order  of  the  King  in  Council.  An  attempt 
was  nowmade  to  commit  in  the  King's  name,  without 
specifying  any  offense ;  and  if  it  had  succeeded  "  Lettres 
de  cachet "  would  have  been  established  in  England. 

But  the  exhausted  state  of  the  Exchequer  on  this,  as 
on  many  other  occasions  during  the  seventeenth  century, 
proved  the  safeguard  of  our  liberties.  Buckingham's  in- 
glorious expedition  to  the  Isle  of  Rh6  caused  a  lavish 
expenditure,  which  all  the  irregular  modes  of  raising 
money  resorted  to  were  unable  to  supply.  The  Lord 

as  a  witness  in  any  case,  civil  or  criminal,  but  must  be  sworn,  although  there 
would  be  no  temporal  sanction  to  the  oath.  See  2  Rol.  Ab.  686.  "  King 
James  I.  yielded  testimony  in  many  things  in  the  Countess  of  Exeter's  case  ;" 
whether  sworn  does  not  appear. — Huds.  Treatise  on  Star  Chamber,  2  Coll. 
Jur.  206.  The  simple  certificate  of  King  James  I.  as  to  what  had  passed  in 
his  hearing,  was  received  as  evidence  in  the  Court  of  Chancery. — Abigny  v. 
Clifford,  Hob.  213.  But  Willis,  C.B.,  stated  that  in  every  other  case  the 
King's  certificate  had  been  refused. — Omichund  v.  Barker,  Willis,  550.  In 
the  Berkeley  Peerage  case  before  the  House  of  Lords  in  1811,  there  was  an 
intention  of  calling  George  IV.,  then  Prince  Regent,  as  a  witness,  and  I  be- 
lieve the  general  opinion  was  that  he  might  have  been  examined,  but  not 
without  being  sworn.  *  2  Parl.  Hist.  193. 


202  CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    I.       [1628. 

Keeper  was  so  imprudent  as  to  sanction  an  attempt 
directly  to  impose  new  duties  on  merchandise  by  procla- 
mation ;  but  this  being  a  palpable  attempt  to  violate  ex- 
isting statutes,  and  not  to  evade  them, — even  the  Judges 
declared  it  to  be  illegal.  At  last,  in  the  beginning  of  1628, 
such  was  the  want  of  money,  that  no  expedient  remained 
but  the  calling  of  a  fresh  parliament.  As  a  slight  con- 
cession to  public  opinion,  the  jails  were  all  cleared  of  their 
patriotic  inmates ;  but  the  obstinacy  of  the  King  was  not 
subdued,  and  he  was  not  prepared  to  lower  his  preten- 
sions. 

On  the  first  day  of  the  session  he  said  to  the  two  Houses, 
— "Should  you  not  do  your  duties  in  contributing  what 
the  state  at  this  time  needs,  I  must,  in  discharge  of  my 
conscience,  use  those  other  means  which  God  hath  put 
in  my  hands  to  save  that  which  the  follies  of  other  men 
may  otherwise  hazard  to  lose  ;"  and  the  Lord  Keeper 
concluded  a  long  oration  with  these  words;  "Therefore, 
so  resolve  of  your  supplies  that  they  may  be  timely  and 
sufficient,  sorting  the  occasion  ;  your  aid  is  lost  if  too  little 
or  too  late,  and  his  Majesty  is  resolved  that  his  affairs  can 
not  permit  him  to  expect  it  overlong.  This  way  of  par- 
liamentary supplies,  as  his  Majesty  hath  told  you,  he  hath 
chosen  not  as  the  only  way,  but  as  the  fittest ;  not  be- 
cause he  is  destitute  of  others,  but  because  it  is  most 
agreeable  to  the  goodness  of  his  own  most  gracious  dis- 
position, and  to  the  desire  and  weal  of  his  people.  If  this 
be  deferred,  necessity  and  the  sword  of  the  enemy  make 
way  for  others.  Remember  his  Majesty's  admonition; 
I  say,  remember  it."1 

To  the  intelligence,  moderation,  and  firmness  of  this 
parliament  we  are  mainly  indebted  for  the  liberty  we  now 
enjoy. 

A  sufficient  aid  being  voted,  but  not  definitively,— the 
subject  of  arbitrary  imprisonment  was  taken  up  by  the 
two  Houses,  and  many  conferences  were  held  between 
them,  in  which  Sir  Edward  Coke  displayed  the  fire  of 
youth  with  the  wariness  of  age."  Pym,  in  spite  of  his 

1  Rush.  i.  477.     2  Parl.  Hist.  221. 

2  Yet  he  sometimes  discoursed  as  if  commenting  on  a  section  of  Littleton. 
He  says  that  an  Englishman  hath  and  ought  to  have  a  fee  in  his  liberty,  and 
not  a  mere  tenancy  at  will  ;  "  for  no  tenant  at  will  will   support  or  improve 
anything,  because  he  hath  no  certain  estate  ;  ergo,  to  make  men  tenants  at 


1628.]  LORD     COVENTRY.  203 

minute  subdivisions,  gained  the  admiration  of  the  House 
and  of  the  country  by  his  energy,  and  laid  the  foundation 
of  that  reputation  which  shone  out  with  such  splendor  in 
the  Long  Parliament.  Wentworth,  still  a  patriot,  showed 
what  ascendancy  he  could  give  to  which  ever  side  he 
espoused. 

A  plan  was  laid  to  put  an  end  to  these  discussions  by 
calling  the  two  Houses  before  the  King,  and  making  a 
declaration  to  them  of  the  King's  respect  for  liberty.  Ac- 
cordingly the  Lord  Keeper,  in  his  presence,  said,  "  He 
holdeth  Magna  Charta,  and  the  other  six  statutes  insisted 
upon  for  the  subjects'  liberty,  to  be  all  in  force,  and  as- 
sures you  that  he  will  maintain  all  his  subjects  in  the  just 
freedom  of  their  persons  and  safety  of  their  estates,  and 
that  he  will  govern  according  to  the  laws  and  statutes  of 
this  realm,  and  that  you  shall  find  as  much  security  in 
his  Majesty's  royal  word  and  promise  as  in  the  strength 
of  any  law  ye  can  make,  so  that  hereafter  ye  shall  never 
have  cause  to  complain." 

The  answer  to  this  speech  was  "  the  Petition  of  Right," 
Wentworth  exclaiming,  sarcastically,  "  Never  parliament 
trusted  more  in  the  goodness  of  their  King,  so  far  as  re- 
gardeth  ourselves  ;  but  we  are  ambitious  that  his  Majesty's 
goodness  may  remain  to  posterity."  A  statutable  recog- 
nition was  required  of  the  illegality  of  raising  money  in 
the  shape  of  loans,  or  by  any  other  contrivance,  without 
the  authority  of  parliament ;  of  commitments  by  the 
King,  without  stating  a  sufficient  cause  in  the  warrant ;  of 
quartering  soldiers  in  private  houses ;  and  of  trying 
soldiers,  mariners,  and  their  accomplices,  in  time  of  peace, 
by  martial  law. 

Coventry  assisted  in  all  the  shifts  and  contrivances  by 
which  Charles  attempted  to  evade  giving  an  unqualified 
assent  to  this  act,  but  stood  by  his  side,  when  he  at  last, 
with  his  own  lips,  pronounced  the  words,  "  Soit  droit  fait 

will  of  their  liberties,  destroys  all  industry  and  endeavors  whatsoever  ;  and 
so  much  for  these  six  principal  reasons : — 

f  A  re  ipsa,  "| 

A  minore  ad  majus,  *g   f  Honor, 

"  Taken  J  A  remediis,  I  Profit, 

|  From  the  extent  and  universality,  f  o  J  Security, 

From  the  indefinitenesss  of  the  time,  ^   [  Industry." 

[A  fine. 


2o4          CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    I.         [1629 

come  il  est  desire,"  amidst  the  plaudits  of  all  present,  fol- 
lowed by  unbounded  rejoicing  throughout  the  nation.1 

The  good  understanding,  however,  was  of  short  du- 
ration, for  the  King,  receiving  very  bad  advice  from 
Coventry  and  other  courtiers,  insisted  on  his  authority  to 
levy  tonnage  and  poundage  by  his  prerogative  alone ;  and 
the  Commons  resumed  with  fresh  ardor  the  impeachment 
of  Buckingham.  To  put  an  end  to  these  proceedings,  the 
King  came  to  the  House  of  Lords  one  morning  at  nine 
o'clock,  without  his  crown  or  his  robes, — the  Peers  like- 
wise being  unrobed.  Mounting  the  throne,  he  ordered 
the  Black  Rod  to  summon  the  Commons,  who  had  met 
at  eight,  and  were  framing  a  remonstrance  to  remind  him 
that  by  the  Petition  of  Right  he  was  precluded  from  levy- 
ing duties  on  merchandise  without  the  previous  consent 
of  parliament. 

When  they  had  come  to  the  bar  he  made  a  speech, 
trying  to  explain  away  the  Petition  of  Right,  which,  he 
said,  he  had  been  told  would  not  interfere  with  his  lawful 
prerogative ;  and  he  insisted  on  his  inherent  and  heredi- 
tary title  to  tonnage  and  poundage.  He  then  gave  the 
royal  assent  to  the  subsidy  and  other  bills  which  had 
passed,  and  the  Lord  Keeper,  by  his  orders,  prorogued  the 
parliament.* 

Coventry's  conduct  during  the  session  had  given  so 
much  satisfaction  to  the  Court,  that  he  was  now  raised  to 
the  peerage  by  the  title  of  Baron  Coventry,  of  Ayles- 
borough,  in  the  county  of  Worcester. 

A  few  weeks  after,  his  position  was  considerably  altered 
by  the  assassination  of  Buckingham,  to  whom  he  owed 
his  elevation ; — and,  till  the  apostasy  and  rise  of  Went- 
worth  under  a  new  name,  which  followed  after  no  long 
interval,  he  was  himself  the  most  influential  adviser  of  the 
Crown.  Unhappily,  instead  of  checking  Charles's  arbi- 
trary propensities,  he  zealously  encouraged  and  abetted 
them. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  following  year  the  same  parlia- 
ment re-assembled ;  but  all  confidence  in  the  sincerity  of 
Charles,  and  the  honesty  or  prudence  of  the  Lord  Keeper 
and  his  other  ministers,  was  gone,  by  the  disgraceful  art- 
ifice resorted  to  of  circulating  as  by  authority,  copies  of 

1  2  Parl.  Hist.  374.  *  2  Parl.  Hist. 


1629.]  LORD     COVENTRY.  205 

the  Petition  of  Right,  with  the  evasive  answer  to  it  which 
had  first  been  pronounced. 

The  Lord  Keeper  was  strongly  suspected  of  being  the 
author  of  this  proceeding ;  and  a  direct  attack  was  made 
upon  him  along  with  the  Barons  of  the  Exchequer,  for 
having  decided  in  their  Courts  that  tonnage  and  pound- 
age might  be  lawfully  levied  without  an  act  of  parliament. 
Charles,  when  it  was  too  late,  tried  to  conciliate,  by  de- 
claring that  he  did  not  challenge  tonnage  and  poundage 
as  a  right,  and  that  he  was  willing  that  an  act  should 
pass  to  confer  them  upon  him.  The  Commons  threatened 
to  punish  the  officers  who  had  levied  these  duties  unlaw- 
fully,— when  Secretary  Cook  declared  that  the  King  would 
not  separate  the  obedience  of  his  servants  from  his  own 
acts,  nor  suffer  them  to  be  punished  for  executing  his 
commands. 

This  led  to  the  famous  resolutions,  "  that  whosoever 
shall  advise  the  taking  of  tonnage  and  poundage,  not  be- 
ing "granted  by  parliament,  shall  be  reputed  a  capital 
enemy  to  this  kingdom  and  government;  and  that  what- 
ever merchant  or  other  person  shall  pay  tonnage  and 
poundage,  not  being  granted  by  parliament,  shall  be  re- 
puted a  betrayer  of  the  liberties  of  England."  ! 

Finch,  the  Speaker,  refusing  to  put  the  resolutions,  and 
wishing  to  leave  the  House,  was  forcibly  held  in  the  chair 
till  they  were  carried.  Meanwhile,  the  King  was  in  the 
House  of  Lords,  impatient  to  put  an  end  to  these  pro- 
ceedings by  a  dissolution,  and  (the  Lord  Keeper  standing 
by  his  side) 'he  ordered  the  Usher  of  the  Black  Rod  to 
summon  the  Commons  to  attend  his  Majesty  at  the  bar 
forthwith.  This  officer  went,  with  the  emblem  of  his 
office  in  his  hand,  and  knocked  at  the  door  of  the  House 
of  Commons,  but  was  barred  out,  and  obliged  to  report 
on  his  return  that  he  could  not  procure  admittance.  The 
Captain  of  the  Guard,  in  a  little  time,  was  ordered  to 
break  the  door  open  ;  but  going  for  that  purpose,  he  found 
that  the  Commons  had  adjourned.  On  the  day  of  the  ad- 
journment the  King  again  went  to  the  House  of  Lords ; 
and  the  Lord  Keeper,  without  asking  the  attendance  of 
the  Commons,  dissolved  the  Parliameut. 

This  was  the  last  time  that  Coventry  ever  appeared  in 
the  House  of  Lords ;  for  an  interval  followed  of  near 

1  2.  Parl.  Hist.  490. 


2o6          CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    I.         [1629. 

twelve  years  without  a  Parliament,  and  before  another 
met  he  was  snatched  away  from  the  impending  troubles. 

A  settled  resolution  was  now  formed  to  establish  des- 
potism in  England,  and,  but  for  the  formidable  insurrec- 
tion which  broke  out  in  Scotland,  there  is  scarcely  a  doubt 
that  the  scheme  would  have  succeeded,  and  that  •'  parlia- 
ment" would  have  been  read  of  in  our  history  as  an  ob- 
solete institution,  showing  that  our  ancestors  were  free. 
I  must  consider  Lord  Keeper  Coventry  the  most  culpable 
of  the  conspirators,  although,  from  the  wariness  of  his  na- 
ture and  the  mediocrity  of  his  talents,  he  has  escaped  the 
full  measure  of  indignation  which  his  conduct  deserved. 
Charles  himself  was  an  absolutist  par  mdtier  (as  Frederick 
the  Great  said  of  himself),  and,  considering  the  notions 
of  Divine  right  which  he  inherited  from  his  father,  and 
which  were  assiduously  inculcated  by  the  ministers  of 
religion  around  him,  we  need  not  wonder  that  after  the 
three  attempts  he  had  made  to  hold  parliaments,  his  con- 
science was  satisfied  with  the  conviction  that,  being  use- 
less and  mischievous,  they  might  be  safely  superseded  by 
prerogative.  Laud,  a  narrow-minded  priest,  looked  with 
such  horror  upon  the  Puritans,  that  he  mixed  up  their 
love  of  freedom  with  their  dislike  of  episcopacy,  and  might 
excusably  think  that  he  was  promoting  both  the  temporal 
and  spiritual  interests  of  the  community  by  assisting  in 
obtaining  supreme  power  for  the  pious  Head  of  the  Church. 
Strafford,  with  great  genius,  had  been  educated  only  as  a 
country  gentleman,  and,  passing,  with  the  zeal  of  a  rene- 
gade, from  the  popular  to  the  prerogative  side,  he  perhaps 
incurred  less  moral  blame  than  if  he  had  been  regularly 
trained  in  a  familiar  acquaintance  with  the  laws  and  con- 
stitution of  his  country.  Noy,  the  Attorney  General,  and 
Littleton,  the  Solicitor  General,  who  had  gone  over  along 
with  him,  thought  they  were  little  to  blame  while  they 
imitated  the  example  and  received  the  warm  applauses  of 
the  head  of  their  profession, — a  Peer  of  parliament  and  in 
possession  of  the  Great  Seal.  Lord  Coventry  had  not 
even  the  poor  apology  set  up  for  Lord  Bacon,  that  he  was 
acting  under  the  uncontrollable  influence  of  an  imperious 
minister.  After  the  death  of  Buckingham,  Charles  thought 
for  himself,  and  was  open  to  any  advice  that  might  be 
offered  to  him  by  any  of  his  councillors.  There  can  not 
be  a  doubt,  therefore,  that  Coventry  might  have  inter- 


1629.]  LORD     COVENTRY.  207 

posed,  effectively,  to  deprecate  the  unconstitutional,  il- 
legal, cruel,  and  oppressive  measures  which  were  now 
resorted  to;  but,  instead  of  this,  in  a  cool,  quiet,  and 
cunning  manner  he  suggested  them,  he  executed  them, 
and  he  defended  them.  Thinking  that  a  time  of  retribu- 
tion might  possible  arrive,  he  studied,  as  far  as  he  could, 
to  avoid  the  appearance  of  taking  a  prominent  part  at  the 
council-table  or  in  the  Star  Chamber;  but  his  were  the 
orders,  his  were  the  proclamations,  his  were  the  prosecu- 
tions, and  his  were  the  sentences  which  marked  the  next 
eleven  years  of  arbitrary  rule,  and  which,  if  he  had  suc- 
ceeded in  his  enterprise,  might  have  made  him  be  cele- 
brated as  another  Richelieu. 

As  soon  as  parliament  was  dissolved,  the  popular 
leaders  of  the  House  of  Commons  were  summoned  before 
the  Council,  and  being  examined  by  the  Lord  Keeper  re- 
specting their  conduct  at  the  conclusion  of  the  session — 
particularly  in  keeping  the  Speaker  in  the  chair  and  forc- 
ing'him  to  put  the  question  on  the  resolution  against 
taxing  without  the  authority  of  parliament, — they  were 
all  committed  to  prison  by  warrants  which  did  not  ex- 
press the  cause  of  commitment.  The  legality  of  such 
warrants  had  been  denied  ;  and  if  they  could  be  estab- 
lished, a  great  step  was  gained,  for  thereafter  no  redress 
could  be. obtained  by  an  appeal  to  the  ordinary  legal  tri- 
bunals. 

Some  apprehension  was  entertained  respecting  the 
firmness  of  Sir  Randolph  Crew,  the  Lord  Chief  Justice  of 
the  King's  Bench,  a  very  learned  lawyer,  who  had  gone 
considerable  lengths  in  supporting  the  measures  of  the 
Government,  but  was  supposed  not  to  be  entirely  free 
from  principle,  or  the  dread  of  the  House  of  Commons,  if 
there  should  ever  be  another  parliament.  He  was  there- 
fore unceremoniously  dismissed  from  his  office  by  the 
Lord  Keeper,  and  Sir  Nicholas  Hyde,  in  whom  the  event 
showed  that  entire  confidence  was  rightly  placed,  was  ap- 
pointed his  successor. 

The  Lord  Keeper  then  directed  certain  questions  to  be 
put  to  the  Judges,  with  the  view  of  for  ever  extinguish- 
ing freedom  of  speech  in  parliament,  and  subjecting  re- 
fractory members  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  King's  Judges 
for  their  words  and  conduct  as  representatives  of  the 
people.  These  venerable  sages,  who,  it  is  contended,  ought 


208          CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    7.       [1630. 

constitutionally  to  have  been  considered  the  arbiters  of 
parliamentary  privileges,  unanimously  returned  for  answer, 
41  that  freedom  of  speech  only  extends  to  things  debated 
in  parliament  in  a  parliamentary  course,  and  that  a  parlia- 
ment man,  committing  an  offense  against  the  King  or 
Council  in  parliament,  not  in  a  parliament  way,  may  be 
punished  for  it  after  the  parliament  ended;  for  the  parlia- 
ment shall  not  give  privilege  to  any  one  contra  morcm 
Parliamentarian  exceeding  the  bounds  of  his  place  and 
and  duty," — whereof  the  Courts  were  necessarily  to  be 
the  sole  Judges.1 

Writs  of  habeas  corpus  were  sued  out  in  vain,  and  Sir 
John  Eliot  and  others  were  convicted  and  sentenced  for 
what  they  had  done  in  the  House  of  Commons.  No  writ 
of  error  could  then  be  brought,  as  parliament  was  not  al- 
lowed to  sit ;  but  the  judgment  was  reversed  after  the 
death  of  Lord  Coventry,  and  many  years  after  the  de- 
fendants had  suffered  the  punishment  so  unjustly  inflicted 
upon  them." 

In  Chamber's  case  the  Lord  Keeper  was  supposed  to 
show  commendable  moderation  for  those  times.  The  de- 
fendant, an  eminent  Turkey  merchant,  being  required  to 
pay  exorbitant  duties  on  goods  not  imposed  by  parlia- 
ment, had  the  temerity  to  say  that  "  merchants  are  in  no 
part  of  the  world  so  screwed  as  in  England,  and  that  in 
Turkey  they  had  more  encouragement."  Being  prose- 
cuted in  the  Star  Chamber  for  this  seditious  speech,  he 
was  of  course  found  guilty,  and  Laud  and  several  others 
were  for  fining  him  £3,000 ;  but  the  Lord  Keeper  mildly 
proposed  .£1,500,  and  the  fine  was  at  last  fixed  at  ^2,000, 
the  defendant  likewise  being  ordered  to  read  an  acknowl- 
edgement of  his  great  offense,  dictated  by  the  Attorney 
General." 

In  the  next  case,  which  was  a  prosecution  against  Dr. 
Alexander  Leighton,  a  Scotch  divine,  for  slandering  pre- 
lacy, there  was  no  division  of  opinion,  and  the  Lord 
Keeper  pronounced  sentence,  in  which  all  concurred, 
"  that  the  defendant  should  be  imprisoned  in  the  Fleet 

1  It  should,  however,  be  recollected,  to  the  credit  of  the  Judges,  that  the 
year  before,  in  Felton's  case,  there  being  abundant  evidence  to  convict  him, 
and  neither  the  King,  the  Lord  Keeper,  nor  the  Attorney  General  pressing 
them  for  a  contrary  opinion,  "  they  agreed  that  he  ought  not  to  be  tortured 
by  the  rack,  for  no  such  punishment  is  known  or  allowed  by  our  law." — 
3  St.  Tr.  371.  *  Ibid.  331.  »  Ibid.  380. 


1630.1  LORD     COVENTRY.  209 

during  life, — should  be  fined  ,£10,000, — and  after  being 
degraded  from  holy  orders  by  the  High  Commissioners, 
should  be  set  in  the  pillory  in  Westminster, — should  there 
be  whipt, — should  after  being  whipt  again  be  set  in  the 
pillory, — should  have  one  of  his  ears  cut  off, — should  have 
his  nose  slit, — should  be  branded  in  the  face  with  a  double 
S.  S.  for  a  Sower  of  Sedition, — should  afterwards  be  set  in 
the  pillory  in  Cheapside,  there  whipt,  and  after  being  whipt 
again  be  set  in  the  pillory,  and  have  his  other  ear  cut  off."  * 
A  book  was  now  industriously  circulated,  entitled  "  A 
Proposition  for  his  Majesty's  Service  to  bridle  the  Imper- 
tinency  of  Parliaments,"  recommending  that,  after  the 
fashion  of  France  and  other  Continental  states,  all  the 
towns  in  England  should  be  fortified  and  garrisoned  ;  that 
all  highways  should  lead  through  these  towns;  that  no  one 
should  be  allowed  to  enter  them  without  a  passport,  show- 
ing whence  he  came  and  whither  he  was  going,  and  that 
the  gates  be  shut  all  night,  the  keys  being  kept  by  the 
Mayor  or  Governor  ;  that  innkeepers  be  required  to  de- 
liver in  the  names  of  all  strangers  who  come  to  their 
houses  ;  that  the  ruined  castles  to  be  found  near  most  cities 
should  be  repaired,  bulwarks  and  ramparts  for  ordnance 
being  added  according  to  the  rules  of  fortification  ;  that 
an  oath  should  be  required,  acknowledging  that  the  King 
is  as  absolute  as  any  other  Christian  Prince,  and  may  by 
proclamation  either  make  or  reverse  laws  without  consent 
of  parliament;  that  the  example  of  Louis  XI.  should  be 
followed,  who  found  the  like  opposition  from  popular  as- 
semblies, and  effectually  suppressed  them  ;  that  instead  of 
parliamentary  subsidies,  a  tax,  to  be  called  "  a  decima- 
tion," should  be  imposed  by  the  King,  importing  the 
tenth  of  all  subjects'  estates  to  be  paid  as  a  yearly  rent  to 
their  Prince  ;  that  the  monopoly  of  the  sale  of  salt  should 
be  assumed  by  the  King,  as  in  foreign  countries  ;  that  £5 
per  cent,  on  the  value  of  all  property  in  litigation  be  de- 
manded by  the  Crown,  and  for  recompense  thereof  to 
limit  all  lawyers'  fees  and  gettings  (so  excessive  in  Eng- 
land), whereby  the  subject  should  save  more  in  fees  and 

1  Laud's  Journal  shows  that  this  sentence  was  rigorously  carried  into  execu- 
tion. After  minutely  describing  the  punishment  at  Westminster,  he  says, 
"on  that  day  sevennight  his  sores  upon  his  hack,  ear,  nose,  and  face  being  not 
Cured,  he  was  whipt  again  at  the  pillory  in  Cheapside,  and  there  had  the  re- 
mainder of  his  sentence  executed  upon  him  by  cutting  off  the  other  ear, 
slitting  the  other  side  of  the  nose,  and  branding  the  other  cheek." 
III. — 14 


210          CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    I.        [1630. 

charges  than  he  would  give  in  this  new  gabella,  reckoned 
to  bring  in  ^5O,cxx>  a  year;  that  there  should  likewise  be 
imposed  a  gabella,  as  in  Tuscany,  on  all  cattle,  horses, 
flesh,  fish,  and  other  victuals,  bread  excepted  ;  and,  lastly, 
that  the  King  should  strictly  enforce  the  keeping  of  fast 
days,  granting  a  dispensation  to  those  willing  to  pay  for 
it,  which  it  was  calculated  would  yield  £100,000  a  year, 
without  any  disgust,  because  it  would  be  every  one's 
choice  to  give  it  or  no.  Thus  was  the  King  of  England 
for  ever  after  to  be  powerful,  rich,  and  independent,  and 
without  distraction  to  exercise  a  paternal  rule  over  his 
dutiful  and  loving  subjects  ! 

But  the  scheme  caused  much  scandal,  being  considered 
a  plain  proof  that  the  King  was  avowedly  aiming  at 
despotic  sway,  and  it  excited  such  dangerous  discontents, 
that  the  Lord  Keeper  thought  the  discreet  course  would 
be  to  disclaim  it,  and  to  institute  a  sham  prosecution 
against  some  who  had  read  the  book,  which  the  Court  had 
at  first  warmly  patronized.  Accordingly,  an  information 
in  the  Star  Chamber  was  filed  against  the  Earl  of  Bed- 
ford, the  Earl  of  Clare,  Sir  Robert  Cotton,  John  Selden, 
Esquire,  Oliver  St.  John,  Esquire,  and  several  other  patri- 
ots, for  publishing  a  seditious  writing,  entitled  "  A  Prop- 
osition for  his  Majesty's  Service  to  bridle  the  Imperti- 
nency  of  Parliaments." 

However,- when  this  case  was  coming  to  a  hearing,  the 
Lord  Keeper  declared  in  the  Star  Chamber  that  the  King, 
in  respect  of  the  great  joy  upon  the  birth  of  his  son,1  had 
ordered  the  proceedings  to  be  stopped,  and  the  defend- 
ants to  be  discharged  ;  yet  to  mark  his  dislike  of  such 
advice,  commanded  the  writing  to  be  burned  as  seditious 
and  scandalous.2 

^  But  the  scheme  was  in  reality  highly  agreeable  to  the 
Court,  and  was  steadily  acted  upon.  Not  only  were  ton- 
nage and  poundage  still  levied  without  authority  of  par- 
liament, but  the  duty  on  goods  imported  was,  from  time  to 
time,  increased  by  the  Council,  and  extended  to  new  com- 
modities. A  new  stamp  duty  was  imposed  upon  cards.  To 
accustom  the  people  to  obey  the  royal  mandate,  procla- 
mations were  issued  from  time  to  time  respecting  subjects 
connected  with  trade,  the  public  health,  and  supposed 
public  convenience,  and  these  were  enforced  in  the  Star 

1  Charles  II.,  born  May  29,  1630.  *  3  St.  Tr.  387. 


1631.]  LORD     COVENTRY.  211 

Chamber, — with  the  intention  that  breaches  of  them 
should,  by-and-by,  be  punished  by  indictment  in  the  Courts 
of  common  law,  and  that,  by  degrees,  a  proclamation 
might  in  all  respects  be  considered  equivalent  to  an  act  of 
parliament.1 

If  persons,  to  escape  from  these  oppressions,  wished  to 
seek  refuge  in  another  hemisphere,  they  were  restrained 
from  emigrating  by  proclamation.  Thus  was  the  ship 
stopped  that  was  to  carry  to  New  England  Cromwell, 
Pym,  Hampden,  and  Hazelrig ;  and  a  violation  of  the 
law  which,  being  compared  with  others,  was  considered  so 
slight  as  not  to  be  much  regarded  at  the  time,  led  to  a 
revolution  in  the  state.2 

Not  more  respect  was  paid  to  private  property  than  to 
public  rights,  as  many  shops  and  houses  were  pulled 
down,  by  order  in  Council,  to  make  way  for  supposed  im- 
provements in  the  city  of  London,  such  compensation 
being  made  to  the  owners  as  an  agent  of  Government 
chose  to  fix.9 

The  Lord  Keeper  was  in  a  more  special  manner  an- 
swerable for  the  revival  of  monopolies.  In  direct  violation 
of  the  statute  law,  he  passed  many  patents  under  the 
Great  Seal  for  the  exclusive  manufacture  and  vending  of 
soap,  leather,  salt,  and  other  commodities,  without  any 
pretense  of  invention  or  improvement, — merely  in  respect 
of  the  large  sums  that  were  given  for  the  grants.  A  par- 
liament was  talked  of  to  redress  these  grievances;  but,  to 
drive  the  people  to  despair,  a  proclamation  came  out, 
countersigned  by  the  Lord  Keeper,  wherein  the  King 
reciting  the  late  abuses  in  parliament,  declared  that  "  he 
would  consider  it  presumption  for  any  one  to  prescribe 
to  him  any  time  for  calling  that  assembly," — so  that  a 
petition  for  a  parliament  would  afterwards  have  been 
prosecuted  as  a  seditious  libel. 

1  These  proclamations  prohibited  the  importation  of  certain  commodities, 
regulated  the  mode  of  carrying  on  manufactures  at  home,  fixed  the  prices  of 
marketable  goods,  forbade  the  erection  of  houses  in  London,  and  enforced 
residence  in  the  country.  For  disobedience  of  this  last  proclamation,  167 
persons  were  prosecuted  in  one  year.  One  Hillyard  was  fined  ^5,000  for 
selling  saltpeter  contrary  to  proclamation. — Rushworth,  ii.  144. 

8  Ibid.  409,  418. 

8  Mr.  Hume  defends  or  palliates  these  illegal  acts  by  observing  that,  as 
parliament  did  not  meet,  they  were  necessary,  thereby  making  the  unconsti- 
tutional disuse  of  parliaments  the  excuse  for  the  assumotion  of  legislative 
power  by  the  Crown. — Hume's  Hisi.  c.  52. 


212  CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    I.       [1633. 

The  attention  of  the  public  was  for  a  short  time,  di- 
verted from  these  measures  by  the  trial,  before  Lord 
Coventry,  as  Lord  High  Steward,  and  his  Peers,  of  Lord 
Audley,  Earl  of  Castlehaven,  in  Ireland,  for  assisting  in 
committing  a  rape  on  his  wife,  and  for  other  abomin- 
able offenses.  The  custom  was  still  kept  up  of  previously 
taking  the  opinion  of  the  Judges  on  any  points  likely  to 
arise  in  a  criminal  case,  even  though  not  of  a  political 
nature ;  and  on  this  occasion,  for  the  guidance  of  the 
Lord  High  Steward,  they  told  him  "that  a  Peer  of  Par- 
liament could  not,  if  so  inclined,  waive  his  privilege,  and 
be  tried  by  Commoners  ;  that  a  Peer  can  not  challenge  a 
Peer  on  his  trial:  that  a  Peer  was  not  entitled  to  counsel 
for  matter  of  fact  more  than  a  Commoner;  that  a  wife 
may  be  a  witness  against  her  husband  in  case  of  personal 
violence ;  and  that  in  clergyable  offenses  a  Peer  can  not 
pray  his  privilege  till  he  confesses  or  is  found  guilty." 

The  trial  took  place  with  great  pomp  and  solemnity,  in 
Westminster  Hall.  When  the  prisoner  had  been  placed 
at  the  bar,  the  Lord  High  Steward,  after  alluding  to  the 
heavy  charges  against  him,  said,  "  His  Majesty  brings  you 
this  day  to  your  trial,  doing  herein  like  the  mighty  King 
of  kings,  in  the  i8th  of  Genesis,  ver.  20,  21,  who  went 
down  to  see  whether  their  sins  were  so  grievous  as  the  cry 
of  them.  '  Because  the  cry  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  is 
great,  and  their  sins  be  grievous,  I  will  go  down  (saith  the 
Lord)  and  see  whether  they  have  done  altogether  accord- 
ing to  the  cry  of  it.'  And  kings  on  earth  can  have  no 
better  pattern  to  follow  than  the  King  of  heaven  ;  and 
therefore  our  Sovereign  Lord  the  King,  God's  Vicegerent 
here  on  earth,  hath  commanded  that  you  should  be  tried 
this  day,  and  to  that  end  hath  caused  these  Peers  to  be 
assembled."  The  trial  then  proceeded,  on  three  indict- 
ments, for  three  several  felonies  at  the  same  time.  Both 
written  depositions  and  viva  voce  evidence  were  adduced 
against  him.  Being  found  guilty,  sentence  was  pro- 
nounced upon  him  very  impressively  by  the  Lord  High 
Steward,  and  he  was  afterwards  executed.1 

The  King  soon  after  went  into  Scotland,  ostensibly  to 
be  crowned,  but,  in  reality,  to  enforce  the  attempt  to  in- 
troduce Laud's  episcopacy  into  that  country ;  an  attempt 
which  for  ever  alienated  from  him  the  hearts  of  his 

1  3  St.  Tr.  402. 


1633-]  LORD     COVENTRY.  213 

countrymen,  and  which  may  be  considered  the  remote 
cause  of  all  his  misfortunes.  Laud  accompanying  him, 
Coventry  was  left  at  the  head  of  affairs  in  England,  and 
no  way  relaxed  the  arbitrary  system  pursued  by  his 
master. 

Charles  returned  from  Scotland  under  the  delusion  that 
he  had  completely  effected  his  object,  and  more  thoroughly 
determined  to  make  himself  absolute  all  over  the  island. 
The  death  of  Archbishop  Abbot  enabled  him  to  raise 
Laud  to  the  primacy;  and  Juxon,  the  new  Bishop  of  Lon- 
don (to  the  general  disgust,  and  to  the  deep  concern  of 
all  the  enlightened  friends  of  the  Church),  was  made  Lord 
High  Treasurer, — to  preside  in  the  seat  of  Lord  Burleigh 
over  the  finances  and  councils  of  the  nation. 

Now  the  innovations  to  bring  the  rites  of  the  Church 
of  England  as  near  as  possible  to  those  of  Rome  were 
pushed  with  fresh  energy,  and  the  Puritans  were  perse- 
cuted with  redoubled  zeal.  Lord  Coventry,  neither  in  the 
Council  nor  in  the  Star  Chamber,  did  anything  for  the 
law,  the  constitution,  or  the  public  safety.  He  sometimes 
pretended  to  disapprove  of  the  excesses  of  Laud,  but  in 
reality  countenanced  them.  Henry  Sherfield,  an  ancient 
barrister  of  Lincoln's  Inn,  being  prosecuted  in  the  Star 
Chamber  for  breaking  a  painted  glass  window  in  a  church 
at  Salisbury,  the  Lord  Keeper  at  first  gave  it  as  hi' 
opinion  that  the  defendant  should  only  be  reprimanded, 
make  an  acknowledgment  before  the  Bishop,  and  repair 
the  broken  window ;  but  he  easily  allowed  himself  to  be. 
overruled  by  Laud,  and  pronounced  the  sentence  that  the 
defendant  should  further  be  fined  £500,  and  be  committed 
to  the  Fleet  prison.1 

The  sentence  of  the  Star  Chamber  on  the  learned 
Prynne  for  his  "  HiSTRiOMASTlx,  or  a  Scourge  for  Stage 
Players,"  was  unanimous — "that  he  should  be  disbarred, 
— that  he  should  be  fined  ;£io,ooo, * — that  he  should 
suffer  perpetual  imprisonment, '  like  monsters  that  are  not 
fit  to  live  among  men,  nor  to  see  light,' — that  he  should 
stand  in  the  pillory  in  Westminster  and  Cheapside, — that 
he  should  have  his  ears  cropped,3 — that  his  nose  should  be 

1  3  St.  Tr.  561. 

s  It  was  avowed  that  this  fine  was  more  than  he  was  able  to  pay,  so  that 
Magna  Charta  was  ostentatiously  violated. 

3  It  was  pleasantly  observed,  that  "  he  might  conceal  his  loss  of  ears  by 


214          CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    I.        [1637. 

slit,— and  that  he  should  be  branded  on  the  forehead,  and 
that  all  who  had  any  copies  of  his  book  should  deliver 
them  up  to  be  burnt,  under  pain  of  the  high  displeasure 
of  the  Court.1 

Now  came  the  two  prosecutions,  in  the  Star  Chamber, 
of  Ex-Lord  Keeper  Williams,11  which  Hume  imputes  to 
"  the  haughty  Primate,"  and  denounces  as  "  the  most  in- 
iquitous measure  pursued  by  the  Court  during  the  time 
that  the  use  of  parliaments  was  suspended."  But  the  sen- 
tences of  fine,  pillory,  ear-cropping,  and  imprisonment  for 
life  in  distant  gaols,  pronounced  and  executed  upon  Bast- 
wick,  the  physician,  and  Burton,  the  divine,  for  reflecting 
upon  the  Bishops,  might  well  bear  a  comparison. 

In  the  case  of  Lilburn,  the  Lord  Keeper  took  a  very 
active  part  in  supporting  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Court. 
An  information  being  exhibited  against  the  defendant  for 
a  libel,  he  was  called  upon  to  answer  interrogatories  that 
he  might  criminate  himself, — and  refusing  to  answer  them, 
he  was  brought  up  before  the  Lord  Keeper,  and  the  other 
dignitaries  forming  this  awful  tribunal,  for  his  contempt. 
— Lord  Keeper.  "  Why  will  you  not  answer?" — Lilburn. 
"  My  honorable  Lord,  I  have  answered  fully  before  Mr. 
Attorney  General  to  all  things  that  belong  to  me  to 
answer  unto." — Lord  Keeper.  "  But  why  do  you  refuse 
to  take  the  Star  Chamber  oath  ?" — Lilburn.  "  Most  noble 
Lord,  I  refused  on  this  ground,  because  that  when  I  was 
examined,  although  I  had  fully  answered  all  things  that 
belonged  to  me  to  answer  unto,  and  had  declared  myself 
of  the  thing  for  which  I  am  imprisoned,  yet  that  would 
not  give  content,  but  other  things  were  put  unto  me  con- 
cerning other  men,  to  ensnare  me  and  get  further  matter 
against  me.  And  withal  I  perceived  the  oath  to  be  an 
oath  of  inquiry,  and  for  the  lawfulness  of  which  oath  I 
have  no  warrant." — Lord  Keeper.  "  Well,  come,  submit 
yourself  unto  the  Court." — Lilburn.  "  Most  noble  Lords, 
with  all  willingness  I  submit  my  body  unto  your  Honors' 
pleasure  ;  but  for  any  other  submission,  I  am  conscious  to 

a  pen-wig,  although  in  his  '  Histriomastix'  he  had  inveighed  against  that 
ornament." 

1  3  St.  Tr.  562.  Hume  can  not  conceal  his  delight  in  recording  the  punish- 
ment of  Prynne,  and  openly  praises  the  good  intention  of  the  Court  in  thus 
trying  to  inspire  better  humor  into  the  Puritans,  but  adds,  with  much  naivettf, 
"  whether  pillories,  fines,  and  prisons  were  proper  expedients  for  that  pur- 
pose, may  admit  of  some  question."  *  Ante,  pp.  173,  174. 


1637.]  LORD     COVENTRY.  215 

myself  that  I  have  done  nothing  that  doth  deserve  a  con- 
vention before  this  illustrious  assembly,  and  therefore  for 
me  to  submit,  is  to  submit  I  know  not  wherefor."  He 
was  committed  to  the  Fleet,  and,  being  brought  up  on 
a  subsequent  day,  still  refused,  in  spite  of  all  threats,  to  be 
sworn.  Lord  Keeper.  "  Thou  art  a  mad  fellow,  seeing 
things  are  thus,  that  thou  wilt  not  take  thine  oath." — 
Lilburn.  "  My  honorable  Lord,  I  have  declared  unto  you 
the  real  truth  ;  but  for  the  oath,  it  is  an  oath  of  inquiry, 
and  of  the  same  nature  as  the  High  Commission  oath, 
which  oath  I  know  to  be  unlawful."  The  Lord  Keeper 
then  sentenced  him  to  be  fined  ^500,  to  be  whipt  through 
the  streets,  to  be  set  in  the  pillory,  and  to  be  remanded 
to  the  Fleet  till  he  conformed.  When  in  the  pillory  he 
distributed  some  papers,  said  to  be  seditious,  because  they 
vindicated  his  innocence, — and  for  this  new  offense  an 
order  was  made,  on  the  suggestion  of  the  Lord  Keeper, 
to  \vhich  Laud  and  all  the  other  Judges  assented,  "  that 
he  should  be  laid  alone — with  irons  on  his  hands  and  legs 
— in  the  wards  of  the  Fleet,  where  the  loosest  and 
meanest  sort  of  prisoners  are  used  to  be  put."1 

These  were  sentences  of  the  Star  Chamber,  Coventry's 
own  Court,  and  generally  pronounced  with  his  own  lips. 
But  he  must  likewise  be  held  responsible  for  the  greater 
iniquities  of  the  High  Commission,  which,  if  he  did  not 
orompt,  he  might  easily  have  restrained,  either  by  his 
private  influence,  or  judicially  by  writs  of  prohibition, — 
which  he  refused  to  issue. 

He  was  further  grievously  to  blame  for  vexations  which 
he  countenanced  in  extending  the  bounds  of  royal  forests, 
and  for  the  extortions  practiced  under  his  superintendence 
in  reviving  obsolete  claims  by  the  Crown  to  estates  that 
had  for  generations  been  quietly  enjoyed  by  the  families 
now  in  possession  of  them. 

1  3  St.  Tr.  1315. 


216          CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    I.         [1635. 
CHAPTER  LXII. 

CONCLUSION  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  LORD  KEEPER  COVENTRY. 

WE  have  been  relating  the  grievances  of  individuals 
which,  though  they  excited  much  commiseration, 
might  long  have  been  borne  without  any  general 
movement ;  but  "  SHIP-MONEY  "  now  threw  the  whole  na- 
tion into  a  flame.  The  Lord  Keeper,  if  not  artifex,  was 
particeps  criminis.  Noy,  who  had  gained  eminence  in  his 
profession  by  practicing  "  in  the  sedition  line,"  having 
ratted  and  been  made  Attorney  General,  was  eager  to 
show  his  devotion  to  the  Court, — and,  after  a  long  examin- 
ation of  musty  records  in  the  Tower,  finding  that  in  time 
of  war  the  King  had  first  pressed  ships  into  his,  service, 
had  then  asked  the  seaports  to  equip  ships  for  him,  and 
had  occasionally  afterwards  ordered  the  adjoining  counties 
to  contribute  to  the  expense, — framed  his  famous  scheme, 
which,  if  it  had  succeeded,  would  have  effectually  super- 
seded parliaments.  He  disclosed  his  invention  to  the  Lord 
Keeper,  and  to  Strafford,  now  high  in  the  ascendant,  and 
they  both  rapturously  approved  of  it : — but  foreseeing 
that  its  legality  would  come  in  question,  and  entertain- 
ing some  misgivings  respecting  Sir  Robert  Heath,  Chief 
Justice  of  the  Common  Pleas,  they,  as  a  prudent  prelimin- 
ary, removed  him  from  his  office,  and  substituted  for  him 
Sir  John  Finch,  one  of  the  most  unprincipled  and  reckless 
Judges  who  ever  disgraced  the  English  Bench.  The  writs 
under  the  Great  Seal,  directed  to  the  Sheriffs  of  every 
county  in  England,  fixing,  by  royal  authority,  the  sum  to 
be  raised  in  each  county,  and  requiring  that  it  should 
be  ratably  assessed,  were  then  concocted  ;  but  before  they 
were  issued  their  author  suddenly  died,  and  the  chief  bur- 
den of  prosecuting  the  measure  fell  upon  the  Lord 
Keeper. 

Not  flinching  from  the  task,  he  assembled  all  the  Judges 
in  the  Exchequer  Chamber  previous  to  the  Summer  Cir- 
cuit, and  after  addressing  them  on  various  other  topics, 
came  to  the  legality  of  ship-money. 

"  I  have  but  one  thing  more  to  give  you  in  charge, 
and  it  is  a  thing  of  great  weight  and  importance ;  it  con- 
cerneth  the  honor  of  his  Majesty  and  the  kingdom,  and 


1637.]  LORD     COVENTRY.  217 

the  safety  of  both.  Christendom  is  full  of  war,  and  there  is 
nothing  but  rumors  of  war.  No  doubt  it  hath  ever  been 
accounted  the  greatest  wisdom  for  a  nation  to  arm  that 
they  may  not  be  enforced  to  fight,  which  is  better  than 
not  to  arm  and  to  be  sure  to  fight.  Therefore  his  Maj- 
esty, in  those  doubtful  times,  hath  not  only  commanded 
that  all  the  land  forces  of  the  kingdom  should  be  set  in 
order  and  readiness,  but  to  set  to  sea  a  royal  fleet  at  his 
Majesty's  great  charge,  but  with  the  assistance  of  the 
maritime  places  of  this  kingdom.  The  causes,  and  occa- 
sions, and  times  of  war,  with  the  preparation  and  order- 
ing of  them,  is  proper  to  the  King;  and  dutiful  obedi- 
ence in  such  things  does  best  become  the  subject.  And 
yet  his  Majesty  hath  vouchsafed,  even  by  his  writ,  to  de- 
clare enough  to  satisfy  all  well-minded  men,  and  to  ex- 
press the  dearness  of  his  princely  heart  in  aiming  at  the 
general  good  of  his  kingdom.  Upon  advice  with  his 
Council  he  hath  resolved  that  he  will  forthwith  send  forth 
new  writs  for  the  preparation  of  a  greater  fleet  next  year, 
and  that  not  only  to  the  maritime  towns,  but  to  all  the 
kingdom  besides ;  for  since  that  all  the  kingdom  is  in- 
terested, both  in  the  honor,  safety,  and  profit,  it  is  just 
and  reasonable  that  they  should  all  put  to  their  helping 
hands.  Now  that  which  his  Majesty  requireth  from  you 
and  doth"  command  is,  that  in  your  charges  at  the  assizes, 
and  in  all  places  else,  where  opportunity  is  offered,  you 
take  an  occasion  to  let  the  people  know  how  careful  and 
zealous  his  Majesty  is  to  preserve  his  honor,  and  the  honor 
of  this  kingdom,  and  the  dominion  of  the  sea  ;  and  to 
secure  both  sea  and  land  with  a  powerful  fleet,  that  foreign 
nations  may  see  that  England  is  both  ready  and  able  to 
keep  itself  and  all  its  rights.  And  you  are  to  let  them 
know  how  just  it  is  that  his  Majesty  should  require  this 
for  the  common  defense,  and  with  what  alacrity  and  cheer- 
fulness they  ought  and  are  bound  in  duty  to  contribute 
to  it:  that  foreign  nations  may  observe  the  power  and 
readiness  of  this  kingdom,  which  will  make  them  slow  to 
contend  with  us,  either  by  sea  or  land  ;  and  that  will  be 
the  best  way  to  confirm  unto  us  a  sure  peace."1 

The  writs  were  issued,  and  were  generally  obeyed  ;  but 
many  grumbled, — some  openly  asserted  that  the  imposi- 
tion was  unlawful,  and  it  became  of  the  utmost  import- 
1  3  St.  Tr.  837. 


2i8  CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    I.       [1637. 

ance  to  ensure  a  favorable  decision,  should  the  question 
come  before  a  court  of  law.  The  Lord  Keeper  therefore 
applied  to  the  Judges, — dealing  in  the  first  instance  in 
fraudulent  generalities, — and  obtained  from  them  an 
unanimous  resolution,  that"  as  were  the  benefit  redounded 
to  the  ports  and  maritime  parts,  the  charge  was,  accord- 
ing to  the  precedent  of  former  times,  lawfully  laid  upon 
them ;  so  by  parity  of  reason,  where  the  good  and  safety 
of  the  kingdom  in  general  is  concerned,  the  charge  ought 
to  be  borne  by  the  whole  realm." 

Having  laid  this  foundation,  he  in  the  following  Term 
put  two  specific  questions  to  the  Judges:  I.  "Whether, 
in  cases  of  danger  to  the  good  and  safety  of  the  King- 
dom, the  King  could  not  impose  ship-money  for  its  de- 
fense and  safeguard,  and  by  law  compel  payment  from 
those  who  refused  ?"  2.  "  Whether  the  King  were  not 
the  sole  Judge  both  of  the  danger,  and  when  and  how  it 
was  to  be  prevented  ?" 

The  twelve  Judges  having  assembled  in  Sergeants'  Inn 
Hall,  they  were  told  that  their  opinion  was  merely  re- 
quired for  the  private  satisfaction  of  the  royal  conscience. 
Ten  agreed  to  answer  both  questions,  without  qualifica- 
tion, in  the  affirmative.  Two,  Crooke  and  Hutton,  dis- 
sented, but  were  induced  to  subscribe  the  opinion — upon 
the  representation  that,  when  the  Judges  were  thus  con- 
sulted, the  judgment  of  the  majority  was  that  of  the 
whole  body. 

To  the  dismay  of  Crooke  and  Hutton,  and  to  the  utter 
astonishment  of  them  and  of  all  their  brethren, — as  soon 
as  the  Lord  Keeper  was  armed  with  this  opinion  he  as- 
sembled them  all  openly  in  the  Star  Chamber,  and,  with 
a  full  knowledge  of  the  manner  in  which  it  had  been  ob- 
tained and  signed, — after  another  elaborate  panegyric  on 
ship-money,  and  heavy  complaint  of  those  who  disloyally 
questioned  the  King's  power  to  demand  it,  he  thus  pro- 
ceeded :  "  When  his  Majesty  heard  of  some  refusals, 
though  he  had  cause  to  be  sensible  of  it,  yet  he  was  far 
from  being  transported  with  passion,  but  thought  good  to 
resort  to  the  advice  of  you  his  Judges  who  are  sworn  to 
give  him  faithful  and  true  counsel  in  that  which  pertaineth 
to  the  law ;  and  this  his  Majesty,  as  well  for  the  direction 
of  his  own  course  as  for  the  satisfaction  of  his  subjects, 
required  you  to  deliver  vour  opinion  herein,  to  which  you 


1637.]  LORD    COVENTRY.  219 

returned  an  answer  under  your  hands."  He  then  ordered 
the  opinion  to  be  read  by  the  clerk,  with  the  names  of  all 
the  twelve  as  they  were  in  order  subscribed  ;  which  being 
done  before  a  crowded  audience,  he  continued :  "  My 
Lords,  this  being  the  uniform  resolution  of  all  the  Judges  of 
England,  with  one  voice  and  act  under  their  hands ;  I  say, 
this  being  so  resolved,  as  they  do  here  express  upon  every 
man's  particular  studying  the  case,  and  upon  a  general 
conference  among  themselves,  it  is  of  very  great  au- 
thority, for  the  very  lives  and  lands  of  the  King's  subjects 
are  to  be  determined  by  these  reverend  Judges  ;  much 
more  a  charge  of  this  nature,  which,  God  knows,  can  not 
be  burdensome  to  any,  but  is  of  singular  use  and  conse- 
quence, and  for  the  safety  of  the  whole  kingdom.  The 
command  from  his  Majesty  is,  that  I  should  publish  this 
your  opinion  in  this  place,  and  give  order  that  it  should 
be  entered  in  this  Court,  in  the  High  Court  of  Chancery, 
and-in  the  Courts  of  King's  Bench,  Common  Pleas,  and 
Exchequer,  for  this  is  a  thing  not  fit  to  be  kept  in  a  corner. 
And  his  further  command  is,  that  you  the  Judges  do  de- 
clare and  publish  this  general  resolution  of  all  the  Judges 
of  England  through  all  parts  of  the  kingdom,  that  all  men 
may  take  notice  thereof,  and  that  those  his  subjects  which 
have  been  in  an  error  may  inform  themselves  and  be  re* 
formed.  "You  have  great  cause  to  declare  it  with  joy,  and 
you  can  hardly  do  it  with  honor  enough  to  the  King,  that 
in  so  high  a  point  of  his  sovereignty  he  hath  been  pleased 
to  descend  and  to  communicate  with  you  his  Judges; — • 
which  showeth  that  justice  and  sovereignty  in  his  Majesty 
do  kiss  each  other." 

The  reverend  sages  of  the  law  all  remained  mute  while 
this  trick  was  played  off  upon  them,  those  who  were 
eagerly  looking  for  promotion  approving  of  it  in  their 
hearts,  and  the  dissentients  not  being  able  to  deny  their 
handwriting,  or  publicly  to  enter  into  any  explanation  of 
their  conduct. 

One  man  in  England  remained  unconcerned  and  un- 
dismayed by  this  supposed  unanimous  opinion  of  the 
twelve  Judges,  and  that  was  JOHN  HAMPDEN  !  He  re- 
fused to  pay  the  twenty  shillings  assessed  upon  him  in 
respect  of  his  estate  in  Buckinghamshire,  and  being  sued 
for  the  amount,  he,  in  due  form,  denied  his  liability.  The 
case,  on  account  of  its  importance,  was  adjourned  into  the 


220        CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    I.          [1638. 

Exchequer  Chamber,  before  all  the  Judges,  and  was  there 
argued  many  days.  Lord  Chancellor  Ellesmere,  on  a 
similar  occasion,  was  present  in  the  Exchequer  Chamber, 
and  pronounced  judgment ;'  but  Lord  Keeper  Coventry 
does  not  seem  to  have  publicly  interfered  with  the  de- 
cision of  this  case,  though  he  was,  no  doubt,  very  active 
in  privately  reminding  the  Judges  of  the  opinion  they  had 
given.  To  the  immortal  honor  of  Crooke  and  Hutton, 
notwithstanding  the  manner  in  which  they  had  been  en- 
trapped, and  notwithstanding  all  the  attempts  now  made 
to  work  upon  their  fears  and  hopes,  they  delivered  a  clear 
and  decided  opinion  upon  the  merits, — that  the  tax  was 
unauthorized  by  the  common  law,  and  was  forbidden  by 
statute.  Three  other  Judges,  Davenport,  Brampston, 
and  Denham,  without  denying  the  King's  right,  voted  for 
the  defendant  on  certain  points  of  form.  But  there  being 
a  majority,  with  Lord  Chief  Justice  Finch  at  their  head, 
who  held  that  the  power  to  impose  this  tax  belonged  to 
the  Crown  at  common  law,  and  that,  even  if  there  were 
statutes  to  abolish  it,  these  statutes  were  not  binding  on 
the  King, — judgment  was  given  quod  defendens  oner etur^  and 
process  of  execution  issued  to  levy  the  twenty  shillings. 

Coventry  and  Strafford  were  short-sighted  enough  to 
rejoice  in  the  victory  they  had  won,  thinking  arbitrary 
government  was  firmly  established.  "  Since  it  is  lawful," 
said  they,  "  for  the  King  to  impose  a  tax  towards  the 
equipment  of  the  navy,  it  must  be  equally  so  for  the  levy 
of  an  army ;  and  the  same  reason  which  authorizes  him 
to  levy  an  army  to  resist,  will  authorize  him  to  carry 
that  army  abroad,  that  he  may  prevent  invasion.  More- 
over, what  is  law  in  England  is  law  also  in  Scotland 
and  Ireland.  This  decision  of  the  Judges  will,  therefore, 
make  the  King  absolute  at  home  and  formidable  abroad."* 
But  "  it  is  notoriously  known  that  the  pressure  was  borne 
with  more  cheerfulness  before  the  judgment  for  the  King 
than  ever  it  was  after;  men  before  pleasing  themselves 
with  doing  somewhat  for  the  King's  service  as  a  testi- 
mony of  their  affection,  which  they  were  not  bound  to 
do  ;  many  really  believing  the  necessity,  and  therefore 
thinking  the  burden  reasonable;  others  observing  that 
the  advantage  to  the  King  was  of  importance,  when  the 
damage  to  them  was  not  considerable ;  and  all  assuring 

1  Case  of  Postnati,  ante,  vol.  ii.  p.  376.  *  Strafford  Papers,  ii.  6l. 


1638.]  LORD     COVENTRY,  221 

themselves  that,  when  they  should  be  weary  or  unwilling 
to  continue  the  payment,  they  might  resort  to  the  law 
for  relief,  and  find  it.  But  when  they  heard  this  de- 
manded in  a  court  of  law  as  a  right,  and  found  it,  by 
sworn  Judges  of  the  law,  adjudged  so,  upon  such  grounds 
and  reasons  as  every  stander-by  was  able  to  swear  was  not 
law,  and  so  had  lost  the  pleasure  and  delight  of  being 
kind  and  dutiful  to  the  King;  and  instead  of  giving  were 
required  to  pay,  and  by  a  logic  that  left  no  man  any 
thing  which  he  might  call  his  own,  they  no  more  looked 
upon  it  as  the  case  of  one  man,  but  the  case  of  the  king- 
dom, nor  as  an  imposition  laid  on  them  by  the  King,  but 
by  the  Judges,  which  they  thought  themselves  bound  in 
conscience  to  the  public  justice  not  to  submit  to.  When 
they  saw  in  a  court  of  law  reasons  of  state  urged  as  ele- 
ments of  law  ;  Judges  as  sharp-sighted  as  Secretaries  of 
State,  and  in  the  mysteries  of  state;  judgment  of  law 
grounded  upon  matter  of  fact  of  which  there  was  neither 
inquiry  nor  proof;  and  no  reason  given  for  the  twenty 
shillings  in  question  but  what  included  the  estates  of  all 
the  standers-by, — they  had  no  reason  to  hope  that  doc- 
trine, or  the  promoters  of  it,  would  be  contained  within 
any  bounds;  and  it  is  no  wonder  that  they,  who  had  so 
little  reason  to  be  pleased  with  their  own  condition,  were 
no  less  solicitous  for,  or  apprehensive  of,  the  inconveni- 
ences that  might  attend  any  alteration."  : 

Notwithstanding  the  general  discontent,  there  is  too 
much  reason  to  believe  that  the  scheme  to  establish  abso- 
lute government  on  the  ruins  of  free  institutions  would 
have  succeeded  in  England,  as  it  did  about  this  time  in 
France,  had  it  not  been  for  the  troubles  which  now  broke 
out  in  Scotand.  Charles's  violent  attempt  to  introduce 
episcopacy  into  that  country,  though  he  had  so  far  suc- 
ceeded as  to  have  the  Archbishop  of  St.  Andrew's  for  his 
Chancellor,  and  several  other  Prelates  invested  in  the  high 
offices  of  state, — produced  the  most  sudden,  peaceful,  and 
complete  revolution  recorded  in  history.  In  the  course 
of  a  few  weeks,  without  a  drop  of  blood  being  spilt,  the 
King  was  virtually  dethroned,  and  a  new  government  was 
established,  under  the  title  of  "The  Tables,"  with  the 
almost  unanimous  consent  of  the  nobles,  the  gentry,  and 
commonalty, — having  a  well  disciplined  army  at  its  com- 

1  Clarendon. 


222  CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    7.       [1639. 

mand,  and  recognized  by  all  the  civil  functionaries  in  the 
kingdom.     "The  solemn  League  and  Covenant"  immedi- 

o  o 

ately  followed. 

The  first  effect  produced  in  England  by  this  movement 
was  a  ludicrous  trial,  at  which  the  Lord  Keeper  presided 
with  apparent  gravity.  When  the  news  arrived  at  White- 
hall, Archy,  the  King's  Fool,  who,  by  his  office,  had  the 
privilege  of  jesting,  even  on  his  Master,  happened  un- 
luckily to  try  his  wit  upon  Laud,  and  called  out  to  him, 
"  Who's  fool  now,  my  Lord?"  For  this  offense  the  Pri- 
mate insisted  that  he  should  be  prosecuted,  on  the 
maxim,  "  non  licet  ludere  cum  sacris  ;"  and  after  a  solemn 
hearing  before  the  Council,  Archy  was  sentenced  "  to 
have  his  fool's  coat  pulled  over  his  head,  and  to  be  dis- 
missed the  King's  service." ' 

But  more  serious  consequences  were  at  hand.  The 
King,  notwithstanding  the  moderate  counsels  which  were 
given  to  him  by  the  Lord  Keeper,  and  even  by  Laud  him- 
self, was  resolved  to  make  no  concessions  to  the  Scottish 
rebels,  and  to  suppress  the  insurrection  by  military  force. 
He  directed  summonses  under  the  Great  Seal  to  issue  to 
all  the  nobility  to  meet  him  at  York  with  trains  suitable 
to  their  rank  and  possessions,  and  he  marched  to  the 
north  at  the  head  of  a  feudal  army,  like  another  Edward 
I.,  to  conquer  Scotland. 

But  in  England  the  national  prejudice  against  the 
Scotch  was  overpowered  by  sympathy  in  their  cause.  The 
King's  forces  dwindled  away  as  they  approached  the 
border,  and  were  not  in  a  condition  to  engage  their  op- 
ponents, under  the  veteran  Leslie.  At  Berwick,  Charles 
found  it  indispensably  necessary  to  negotiate,  and  after 
agreeing  to  abolish  episcopacy  (under  a  secret  protest 
that  he  would  restore  it  on  the  first  favorable  op- 
portunity), he  was  obliged,  for  want  of  money,  to  disband 
his  troops,  and  he  ingloriously  returned  to  London. 

Fresh  writs,  to  raise  ship-money  to  the  amount  of 
£200,000,  were  issued,  and  all  sorts  of  expedients  were 
resorted  to  for  the  purpose  of  filling  the  Exchequer, — but 
in  vain.  The  Covenanters,  becoming  more  insolent, 
talked  of  invading  England,  so  that  Presbytery,  the  only 
true  form  of  church  government,  might  be  established  all 
over  the  island, — and  there  were  no  means  of  raising  an 
1  Rush.  ii.  470. 


1640.]  LORD    COVENTRY.  223 

army  to  resist  them.  A  new  tax  might  be  imposed  by 
proclamation,  but  in  the  present  temper  of  the  people, 
there  was  no  chance  of  its  being  paid. 

Under  these  circumstances,  Coventry,  and  the  whole 
Council,  including  even  Archbishop  Laud,  and  Juxon,  the 
Lord  Treasurer,  recommended  that  a  parliament  should 
be  called — a  calamity,  they  privately  said,  from  which 
England  had  now  been  happily  exempt  for  eleven  years, 
and  with  which  they  had  well  hoped  that  the  country 
would  never  more  be  visited.  The  King  for  some  time 
resisted,  looking  for  assistance  from  Straffbrd  and  the 
Irish;  but  finding  his  ministers  steady  in  their  unanimous 
advice,  he  put  to  them  this  pertinent  question :  "  If  the 
new  parliament  should  prove  as  untoward  as  some  has 
lately  been,  will  you  then  assist  me  in  such  extraordinary 
ways  as  in  that  extremity  maybe  thought  fit?"  They 
all  replied  in  the  affirmative  ;  and  the  Lord  Keeper  was 
ordered  to  prepare  a  proclamation,  and  writs  of  summons 
for  a  parliament,  to  meet  in  the  month  of  April  following, 
— the  interval  being  allowed  for  the  meeting  of  a  parlia- 
ment in  Ireland,  which,  it  was  hoped,  the  Lord  Deputy 
could  manage  at  his  pleasure,  and  would  set  a  good  ex- 
ample for  England. 

Although  Coventry  had  concurred  in  the  advice  to  call 
a  parliament  as  an  inevitable  evil,  he  looked  forward  to  it 
with  the  deepest  apprehension.  The  fate  of  Lord  Bacon 
twenty  years  before  was  ever  present  to  his  imagination  ; 
and  although  he  might  have  consciousness  of  being  free 
from  personal  corruption,  notwithstanding  the  charges 
against  him  on  that  score, — he  knew  well  that  a  consider- 
able share  of  the  misgovernment  while  he  held  the  Great 
Seal  was  imputed  to  him  by  the  public,  and  that  he  was 
particularly  obnoxious  for  the  illegal  patents  of  monopoly 
which  he  had  sealed, — for  the  arbitrary  proclamations 
which  he  had  countersigned, — for  the  cruel  sentences  of 
the  Star  Chamber  pronounced  by  him, — and  for  the  active 
part  he  had  taken  in  procuring  the  corrupt  judgment  in 
favor  of  ship-money. 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that,  had  he  survived,  the 
storm  which  burst  upon  his  successor  would  have  over- 
Whelmed  him,  and  that  if  he  had  escaped  the  scaffold,  he 
would  have  been  driven  into  exile. 

But,  while  in  possession  of  the  high  office  and  of  the 


224          CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    I.         [1640. 

great  fortune  which  he  had  amassed, — without  any  judicial 
exposure  of  his  misdeeds,  or  temporal  retribution  for 
them,  he  was  snatched  away  from  impending  misfortunes. 
On  the  I3th  of  January,  1640,  he  suddenly  died  at  his 
residence,  Durham  House,  in  the  Strand,  in  the  6oth  year 
of  his  age.  Upon  his  death-bed  he  sent  this  last  request 
to  the  King, — "  that  his  Majesty  would  take  all  distastes 
from  the  parliament  summoned  against  next  April  with 
patience,  and  suffer  it  to  sit  without  an  unkind  dissolu- 
tion.'" 

The  only  contemporary  writer  who  bestows  upon  him 
any  thing  like  unqualified  praise,  is  Lloyd,  the  author  of 
"  The  State  Worthies," — who  even  lauds  his  love  of  con- 
stitutional government — saying,  "  of  all  those  counsels 
which  did  disserve  his  Majesty  he  was  an  earnest  dissuader, 
and  did  much  to  disaffect  those  sticklers  who  labored  to 
make  the  prerogative  rather  tall  than  great,  as  knowing 
such  men  loved  the  King  better  than  Charles  Stuart ;  so 
that,  although  he  was  a  courtier,  and  had  had  for  his 
master  a  passion  most  intense,  yet  had  he  always  a  passion 
reserved  for  the  public  welfare,  an  argument  of  a  free, 
noble,  and  right-principled  mind."  But  Whitelock  says, 
"he  was  of  no  transcendent  parts  of  fame  ;"  and  Sir  An- 
thony Weldon,  that  •'  if  his  actions  had  been  scanned  by 
a  parliament,  he  had  been  found  as  foul  a  man  as  ever 
lived."  L'Estrange  is  more  impartial:  "His  train  and 
suit  of  followers  was  disposed  agreeably  to  show  both 
envy  and  contempt ;  not  like  that  of  Viscount  St.  Alban's, 
or  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln  whom  he  succeded,  ambitious 
and  vain  ;  his  port  was  state,  theirs  ostentation.  They 
were  indeed  the  more  knowing  men,  but  their  learning 
was  extravagant  to  their  office  ;  of  what  concerned  his 
place  he  knew  enough,  and,  which  is  the  main,  acted  ac- 
cording to  his  knowledge."  Fuller  observes,  with  happy 
ambiguity,  "  It  is  hard  to  say  whether  his  honorable  life 
or  seasonable  death  was  the  greater  favor  which  God  be- 
stowed upon  him."  His  most  valuable  eulogium  is  from 
Clarendon :  "  He  was  a  man  of  wonderful  gravity  and 
wisdom,  and  understood  not  only  the  whole  science  and 
mystery  of  the  law  at  least  equally  with  any  man  who 
had  ever  sat  in  that  place,  but  had  a  clear  conception  of 

1  Echard,  p.  476. 


1640.]  LORD     COVENTRY.  225 

the  whole  policy  of  the  government  both  of  church  and 
state,  which,  by  the  unskillfulness  of  some  well-meaning 
men,  jostled  each  other  too  much.  He  knew  the  temper, 
disposition,  and  genius  of  the  kingdom  most  exactly  ; 
saw  their  spirits  grow  every  day  more  steady,  inquisitive, 
and  impatient,  and  therefore  naturally  abhorred  all  inno- 
vations, which  he  foresaw  would  produce  effects  yet  many  ; 
who  stood  at  a  distance,  thought  he  was  not  active  and 
stout  enough  in  opposing  those  innovations.  For  though 
by  his  place  he  presided  in  all  public  councils,  and  was 
most  sharpsighted  in  the  consequence  of  things,  yet  he  was 
seldom  known  to  speak  in  matters  of  state,  which  he  well 
knew  were  for  the  most  part  concluded  before  they  were 
brought  to  the  public  agitation ;  never  in  foreign  affairs, 
which  the  vigor  of  his  judgment  could  well  have  compre- 
hended ;  nor  indeed  freely  in  anything,  but  what  imme- 
diately and  plainly  concerned  the  justice  of  the  kingdom  ; 
and  in  that,  as  much  as  he  could,  he  procured  references 
to  the  Judges.  Though  in  his  nature  he  had  not  only  a 
firm  gravity,  but  a  severity  and  even  some  morosity,  yet 
it  was  so  sharply  tempered,  and  his  courtesy  and  affability 
towards  all  men  so  transcendent  and  so  much  without  af- 
fectation, that  it  marvelously  recommended  him  to  all 
men  of  all  degrees,  and  he  was  looked  upon  as  an  ex- 
cellent courtier  without  receding  from  the  native  sim- 
plicity of  his  own  manners.  He  had,  in  the  plain  way  of 
speaking  and  delivery,  without  much  ornament  of  elo- 
cution, a  strange  power  of  making  himself  believed,  (the 
only  justifiable  design  of  elocution1),  so  that  though  he 
used  very  frankly  to  deny,  and  would  never  suffer  any 
man  to  depart  from  him  with  an  opinion  that  he  was  in- 
clined to  gratify  when  in  truth  he  was  not,  holding  that 
dissimulation  to  be  the  worst  of  lying,  yet  the  manner  of 
it  was  so  gentle  and  obliging,  and  his  condescension  such 
to  inform  the  persons  whom  he  could  not  satify,  that  few 
departed  from  him  with  ill  will  and  ill  wishes.  But  then 
this  happy  temper  aud  these  good  faculties  rather  pre- 
served him  from  having  many  enemies  and  supplied  him 
with  some  well-wishers,  than  furnished  him  with  any  fast 
and  unshaken  friends,  who  are  always  procured  in  Courts 
by  more  ardor  and  more  vehement  professions  and  appli- 

1  This  is  like  the  well-known  observation,  that  "  speech  is  given  to  man 
to  enable  him  to  conceal  his  thoughts." 
in, — Ij 


226  CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    I.       [1640. 

cations  than  he  would  suffer  himself  to  be  entangled  with. 
So  that  he  was  a  man  rather  exceedingly  liked  than  pas- 
sionately loved  ;  insomuch  that  it  never  appeared  that  he 
had  any  one  friend  in  the  Court  of  quality  enough  to  pre- 
vent or  divert  any  disadvantage  he  might  be  exposed  to. 
And  therefore  it  is  no  wonder,  nor  to  be  imputed  to  him, 
that  he  retired  within  himself  as  much  as  he  could,  and 
stood  upon  his  defense  without  making  desperate  sallies 
against  growing  mischiefs,  which  he  knew  well  he  had  no 
power  to  hinder,  and  which  might  probably  begin  in  his 
own  ruin.  To  conclude,  his  security  consisted  very  much 
in  his  having  but  little  credit  with  the  King ;  and  he  died 
in  a  season  most  opportune,  in  which  a  wise  man  would 
have  prayed  to  have  finished  his  course,  and  which,  in 
truth,  crowned  his  other  signal  prosperity  in  the  world." 
But  under  this  blaze  of  eager  commendation,  it  is  easy  to 
discover  the  features  of  a  character  wary,  selfish,  un- 
principled, reckless,  plausible,  of  refined  hypocrisy,  de- 
sirous of  preserving  the  decencies  of  life,  but  sincerely 
anxious  about  nothing  beyond  his  own  ease  and  advantage, 
—which  by  his  sagacity  and  adaptation  to  the  times  he 
cultivated  so  successfully,  that  he  continued  comfortably 
till  death  in  an  office  the  tenure  of  which  was  so  pre- 
carious that  no  man  died  in  it  for  many  years  before  or 
after  him. 

As  a  politician  he  must  ever  be  held  mainly  responsible 
for  the  troubles  arising  from  the  collision  between  prerog- 
ative and  law  which  he  brought  about.  He  was  checked 
for  a  time  by  Montagu,  who  had  been  Chief  Justice  of  the 
King's  Bench,  and  was  afterwards  Lord  Treasurer  and 
President  of  the  Council ;  but  during  nearly  the  greatest 
portion  of  the  sixteen  years  he  held  the  Great  Seal,  he 
was  the  only  adviser  of  the  government  on  legal  and  con- 
stitutional questions  :  and  if  he  did  not  originate  he  is 
nearly  equally  culpable  for  not  having  strenuously  opposed 
the  many  fatal  measures  brought  forward  during  the  inter- 
val of  parliaments,  and  for  having  abetted  the  scheme  of 
subverting  the  ancient  liberties  of  his  country.  Lord 
Clarendon  represents  that  Coventry  gave  good  advice  in 
the  Cabinet  ;  and  "  perplexed  the  designs  and  councils 
of  the  Court  with  inconvenient  objections  in  law."  But 
I  look  to  his  language  in  public,  and  to  his  acts, — which 
we  authentically  know,  and  which  would  only  acquire  a 


1628.]  LORD     COVENTRY.  227 

deeper  hue  of  atrocity  if  they  were  in  opposition  to  his 
strong  conviction  and  earnest  remonstrances. 

He  was  named  in  a  commission  which  he  drew,  and  to 
which  he  affixed  the  Great  Seal,  "  to  concert  the  means  of 
levying  money  by  impositions  or  otherwise — form  and 
circumstance  to  be  dispensed  with,  rather  than  the  sub- 
stance to  be  lost  or  hazarded."  In  the  Star  Chamber, 
"although  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  was  higher  in 
rank,  and  all  the  Councillors  and  Judges  who  were  sum- 
moned to  attend,  had  an  equal  voice,  yet  the  Lord  Keeper 
was  specially  appointed  by  his  patent  to  hear,  examine, 
and  determine  all  causes,  matters,  and  suits  in  that  Court ;" 
and  he  was  in  reality  the  President.  He  is  answerable, 
therefore,  for  those  sentences  of  frightful  and  unprece- 
dented cruelty  which  brought  proverbial  odium  upon  that 
tribunal,  and  within  a  year  after  his  death  led  to  its  aboli- 
tion, amidst  the  universal  execrations  of  the  people. 

I  ought  not,  however,  to  omit  a  story  thus  told  to  his 
credit  by  Sir  Anthony  Weldon,  which,  however  improb- 
able it  may  be,  I  have  no  means  of  contradicting  :  "  Buck- 
ingham is  grown  now  so  exorbitant,  he  aspires  to  get 
higher  titles  both  in  honor  and  place  as  Prince  of  Tipper- 
ary  and  Lord  High  Constable  of  England,  who  herein 
wrought  after  Leicester's  ambitious  example  ;  but  he  is 
crossed," too,  with  Coventry,  now  Lord  Keeper;  and,  no 
doubt,  on  those  just  grounds  his  predecessor  (Hatton) 
did.1  But  Buckingham's  ambition  could  not  be  so 
bounded ;  for,  upon  the  opposing  it  by  Coventry,  he 
peremptorily  thus  accosted  him,  saying:  'Who  made 
you,  Coventry,  Lord  Keeper?'  He  replied:  'the  King.' 
Buckingham  sur-replied :  '  It's  false,  'twas  I  did  make 
you  ;  and  you  shall  know  that  I  who  made  you  can  and 
will  unmake  you  !  '  Coventry  thus  answered  him  :  '  Did 
I  conceive  I  held  my  place  by  your  favor,  I  would  presently 
unmake  myself,  by  rendering  the  Seal  to  his  Majesty.' 
Thus  Buckingham,  in  a  scorn  and  fury  flung  from  him, 
saying :  '  You  shall  not  keep  it  long : '  and  surely,  had 
not  Felton  prevented  him,  he  had  made  good  his  word." 

As  an  Equity  Judge,  he  seems  to  have  given  entire 
satisfaction.  He  certainly  must  have  been  familiarly  ac- 
quainted with  the  law  of  England,  and  with  the  doctrines 
and  practice  of  the  Court  of  Chancery.  Yet  it  is  surpris- 
1  Ante,  vol.  ii.  p.  305. 


228  CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    I.       [1628. 

ing  how  little  progress  equity,  as  a  science,  made  under 
him.  No  decision  of  his,  of  much  value,  is  recorded;  and 
no  great  principle  or  rule  of  the  system  can  be  traced  to 
him.  Several  writers  unaccountably  state  that  few  of  his 
decrees  were  reversed,  "because  he  made  the  parties  come 
to  a  compromise,  and  had  an  allegation  on  the  face  of  his 
decrees  that  they  were  pronounced  by  consent."  :  He 
took  care  that  none  of  his  decrees  should  be  brought  be- 
fore a  Court  of  Appeal  by  preventing  parliament  from 
ever  assembling. 

He  deserves  great  credit  for  "  Ordinancies  made  by  the 
Lord  Keeper  Coventery  (with  the  advice  and  assistance 
of  Sir  Julius  Caesar,  Master  of  the  Rolls)  for  the  redress 
of  sundry  errours,  defaults,  and  abuses  in  the  High  Courte 
of  Chauncerye."  I  give  No.  I  as  a  specimen,  which 
shows  the  evil  of  prolixity  then  prevailing,  and  which 
will  prevail  in  spite  of  all  efforts  to  repress  it, — while  the 
remuneration  of  lawyers  is  regulated  by  the  length  of  the 
written  proceedings.  "  I.  That  bills,  answers,  replications, 
and  rejoinders  be  not  stuffed  with  repetitions  of  deeds 
or  writings,  in  h<zc  verba,  but  -the  effect  and  substance 
of  so  much  of  them  only  as  is  pertinent  and  material 
be  set  down,  and  that  in  brief  and  effectual  terms.  That 
long  and  needless  traverses  of  points  not  traversable  or 
material,  causeless  recitals,  tautologies,  and  multiplication 
of  words,  and  all  other  impertinences,  occasioning  need- 
less perplexity,  be  avoided,  and  the  ancient  brevity  and 
succinctness  in  bills  and  other  pleadings  restored.  And 
upon  any  default  herein,  the  party  and  counsel  under 
whose  hand  it  passeth  shall  pay  the  charge  of  the  copy, 
and  be  further  punished  as  the  case  shall  merit." 

1  Lloyd.  Fuller.  From  the  following  passage  in  "  Madagascar,"  a  poem 
by  Sir  William  Davenan.t,  written  about  this  time,  it  appears  that  the  recon- 
ciliation system  was  very  much  acted  upon  by  Judges  ;  and  this  accounts  for 
the  security  with  which  they  could  then  retain  the  Apices  with  which  they  were 
presented  on  both  sides  : — 

"  These  when  I  saw,  my  hopes  could  not  abstain 

To  think  it  likely  I  might  twirl  a  chain 

On  a  judicial  bench  ;  learn  to  demur, 

And  sleep  out  trials  in  a  gown  of  fur  ; 

Then  reconcile  the  rich  for  gold-fring'd  [lin'd]  gloves, 

The  poor  for  God's  sake,  or  for  sugar-loaves." 

I  myself,  when  Attorney  General,  received  tea  from  the  East  India  Company, 
and  sugar-loaves  from  the  corporation  of  Kingston-on-Hull  ;  but  I  was  a 
party  to  reforms  which  took  away  all  these  sweets  from  the  office. 


1697-]  LORD     COVENTRY.  229 

To  these  Orders,  the  authorship  of  Coventry  Is  con- 
fined. With  such  a  predecessor  as  Bacon,  and  such  a 
contemporary  as  Hyde,  he  seems  to  have  felt  an  utter 
contempt  for  literature  and  literary  men,  and  to  have 
lived  almost  entirely  with  lawyers.  I  find  no  further  ac- 
count of  his  domestic  habits,  and  no  personal  anecdotes 
respecting  him.  One  attempt  which  he  made  at  a  jest 
has  come  down  to  us.  When  Prynne,  Bastwick  and 
Burton  were  prosecuted  in  the  Star  Chamber  for  libeling 
the  Bishops,  they  objected  that  the  Bishops  ought  not  to 
sit  as  their  Judges ;  whereupon  smartly  answered  my 
Lord  Keeper,  "  By  that  plea  you  can  never  be  tried,  for 
you  have  libeled  all  the  magistrates  in  the  land." 

He  died  the  richest  man  that  had  yet  held  the  Great 
Seal.  Weldon  says,  "  Coventry,  so  generally  reputed  an 
honest  man,  got  such  an  estate  by  bribery  and  injustice, 
that  he  is  said  to  have  left  a  family  worth  a  million, — 
whjch  may  commend  his  wisdom  but  not  his  honesty." 
But  the  anonymous  biographer  I  have  before  quoted, 
although  he  allows  that  Coventry's  enormous  wealth  was 
a  ground  of  considerable  "  murmuration  "  against  his  in- 
tegrity in  his  own  time,' more  good-naturedly,  and  per- 
haps more  reasonably,  says,  "  The  vague  objection  vulgarly 
inferred  that  the  amassing  of  his  wealth  could  not  well  be 
done  in-justice,  might  be  answered  to  the  full  in  this,  that 
his  patrimony  considered,  and  the  gainfulness  of  the 
places  he  passed  through,  together  with  the  great  fortunes 
of  his  own  and  his  sons'  intermarriages,  all  concurring  and 
falling  into  a  frugal  family, — might  soon  wipe  away  all 
imputations  of  the  most  malignant,  and  persuade  even 
detraction  itself  to  rest  in  peace,  and,  as  we  may  chari- 
tably beljeve,  in  glory,  as  his  posterity  surviving  remains 
in  his  house  and  fortunes."  a 

He  was  buried  in  the  church  of  Crome  d'Abitot,  where 
a  suitable  monument,  recording  his  age,  family,  and  offices, 
was  erected  to  his  memory. 

He  was  twice  married  :  first,  to  Sarah,  daughter  of  Ed- 
ward Sebright,  Esq.,  of  Besford,  in  the  county  of  Wor- 
cester, by  whom  he  had  a  daughter,  and  a  son  who 
succeeded  to  his  title  and  estates ;  and,  secondly,  to 
Elizabeth,  daughter  of  John  Aldersey,  Esq.,  of  Spenstow, 
in  the  county  of  Chester,  by  whom  he  had  several  sons 
1  Lloyd.  "  Sloane  MS.  Brit.  Mus. 


230  CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    7.       [1640. 

and  daughters.  His  grandson,  Thomas,  the  fifth  Baron, 
his  last  male  descendant,  was  advanced  in  the  peerage  by 
King  William  to  be  Earl  of  Coventry  and  Viscount  Deer- 
hurst,  with  a  special  limitation  on  failure  of  his  own  issue 
to  that  of  Walter,  the  third  son  of  the  Judge,  and  brother 
of  the  Lord  Keeper.  This  remainder  came  into  operation 
in  the  year  1719,  by  the  death  of  the  fourth  Earl  without 
issue,  and  under  it  the  honors  of  the  family  are  now  en- 
joyed.1 


CHAPTER  LXIII. 

LIFE  OF  LORD  KEEPER  FINCH   FROM  HIS   BIRTH  TILL  THE 
MEETING  OF  THE   LONG  PARLIAMENT. 

WE  now  come  to  one  of  the  worst  characters  in 
English  history.     It  is  rather  fortunate  for  his 
memory  that  he  has  not  had  his  full  share  of  no- 
toriety with  posterity.      He  was  universally  execrated  in 
his  own  times,  and  ought  now  to  be  placed  in  the  same 
category  with  Jeffreys  and  Scroggs.     He  raised  himself 
to  eminence  in  bad  times  by  assisting  to  upset  law  and 
liberty,  and  when  on  the  bench  he  prostituted,  in  the 
most  shameless  manner,  his  judicial  duties  for  his  private 
ends.     It  is  some  consolation  to  think  that,  if  he  did  not 
meet  the  fate  he  deserved,  he  did  not  escape  unpunished. 
Although,  previous  to  the  death  of  Lord  Keeper  Cov- 
entry, it  had  been  resolved  to  submit  to  the  necessity  of 
once  more  calling  a  parliament,  the  King  and  his  advisers 
were  by  no  means  fully  aware  of  the  state  of  the  public 
mind,  or  of  the  difficulties  which  surrounded  them.     In- 
stead of  making  concessions,  and  trying   to   gain    over 
opponents,  they  were  resolved  still  to  stretch  the  prerog- 
ative, and  if  they  could  not  obtain  a  supply  of  money  by 
dictating  to  the  House  of  Commons,  to  throw  aside  all 
profession  of  respect  for  the  constitution,  and  to  govern 
by  open  force.      The  most  violent  and  unscrupulous  sup- 
porter of  arbitrary  power  that  could  be  found  in  the  pro- 
fession  of  the  law  was  therefore  to  be  chosen  as  Lord 
Keeper,  and  there  was  no  hesitation  in  fixing  on  Sir  John 

1  Grandeur  of  the  -Law,  p.  49. 


1640.]  SIX    JOHN    FINCH.  231 

Finch,  Lord  Chief  Justice  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas, 
although  he  was,  in  reality,  "  a  man  exceedingly  ob- 
noxious to  the  people  upon  the  business  of  ship-money, 
and  not  of  reputation  and  authority  enough  to  advance 
the  King's  service."1 

He  disgraced  a  family  of  considerable  antiquity,  which, 
in  the  seventeenth  century,  rose  to  great  distinction  by 
producing  several  very  eminent  lawyers.  They  were 
said  to  be  descended  from  Sir  Henry  Fitzherbert,  Cham- 
berlain to  King  Henry  I.,  and  in  the  time  of  Edward  I. 
to  have  assumed  their  present  surname  from  the  acquisi- 
tion of  the  manor  of  Finch's,  in  Kent.  Their  possessions 
were  enlarged  by  the  marriage  of  Sir  Thomas  Finch  with 
the  heiress  of  Sir  Thomas  Moyle,  Chancellor  of  the  Court 
of  Augmentations  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.  The 
eldest  son  of  this  marriage  was  Sir  Moyle  Finch,  the  an- 
cestor of  the  Earls  of  Winchelsea  and  Nottingham.  The 
second  son,  Sir  Henry  Finch,  from  whom  sprang  the  sub- 
ject of  this  memoir,  was  twice  representative  in  parlia- 
ment for  the  city  of  Canterbury,  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth, 
and  the  first  great  lawyer  of  the  family.  He  was  autumn 
reader  of  Gray's  Inn  in  1603,  took  the  coif  in  1614,  and 
was  made  King's  Sergeant  in  1616.  He  wrote  the  treatise 
called  "  Finch's  Law,"  which,  till  the  production  of  Black- 
stone's  "Commentaries,  was  the  chief  elementary  text- 
book for  law  students.  From  his  preface,  he  seems  to 
have  had  himself  a  very  high  opinion  of  his  own  perform- 
ance, and  to  have  thought  it  of  infinitely  greater  import- 
ance than  the  NOVUM  ORGANUM:  "Inter  innumeros  tarn 
augustae  disciplinae  alumnos,  surrexit  adhuc  nemo,  qui  in 
eo  elaboravit  ut  rerum  praestantiam  methodi  praestantia 
consequatur.  Aut  ego  vehementer  fallor,  aut  superavi 
rei  vix  credendae  dimcultatem  maximam  ;  syrtesque  et 
scopulos,  Scyllam  et  Charybdin  praeternavigavi." 

John,  his  son,  whom  we  have  now  to  take  in  hand,  was 
born  on  the  i/th  of  September,  1584,  and  was  of  a  very 
different  character,  being,  from  his  early  years,  noted  for 
idleness,  though  he  showed  a  talent  for  turning  the  in- 
dustry of  other  boys  to  his  own  advantage. 

He  was  entered  of  Gray's  Inn,  and  there  professed  to 
study  the  law,  but  instead  of  reading  his  father's  black- 
letter  treatise,  or  attending  "  moots  and  readings,"  he 

1  Clarendon. 


232  CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    7.       [1626. 

spent  his  time  in  dicing  and  roistering.  When  called  to 
the  bar,  he  had  little  acquired  learning  of  any  sort, — no 
clients,  and  many  debts.  He  saw  that  he  had  no  chance 
to  get  forward  in  the  regular  routine  of  his  profession, 
and  that  he  was  in  considerable  danger  of  being  sent  to 
prison  by  his  creditors;  but  his  parts  were  lively,  his 
manners  were  agreeable,  he  had  powerful  friends  at  Court, 
and  he  determined  to  make  his  fortune  by  politics.  He 
avoided  the  degree  of  the  coif,  as  he  knew  he  could  make 
no  figure  in  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  among  the 
drowsy,  long-winded  Sergeants,  but  he  contrived  to  be 
employed  occasionally  in  libel  cases,  in  the  Star  Chamber. 
What  he  looked  forward  to  with  most  eagerness  was  the 
meeting  of  a  parliament ;  a  chance  which  an  aspiring 
lawyer,  in  those  days,  might  for  years  expect  in  vain. 
"  Having  led  a  free  life  in  a  restrained  fortune,  and  having 
set  up  upon  the  stock  of  a  good  wit  and  natural  parts, 
without  the  superstructure  of  much  knowledge  in  the 
profession  by  which  he  was  to  grow,  he  was  willing  to  use 
those  weapons  in  which  he  had  most  skill."  l 

He  was  disappointed  in  not  being  returned  to  Charles's 
first  parliament,  but  he  took  his  seat  as  a  burgess  in  that 
which  met  in  February,  1626.  He  was  one  of  the  lawyers 
then  accused  of  "  taking  retainers  on  both  sides,"  and  "  of 
waiting  to  see  which  way  the  cat  jumped."  The  popular 
party  had  been  gaining  strength  every  new  parliament 
since  the  middle  of  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  and  now  had 
a  complete  ascendancy  in  the  House  of  Commons,  but 
they  had  no  preferment  to  bestow,  and  John  Finch  would 
have  been  much  better  pleased  with  the  appointment  of 
Attorney  to  the  Court  of  Wards  than  with  the  reputation 
of  a  flaming  patriot.  An  expectation  prevailed,  which 
was  not  disappointed,  that  some  of  the  most  formidable 
leaders,  who  gave  least  open  offense  to  the  Court,  would 
be  offered  employment. 

Under  the  pretense  of  great  moderation,  the  new  mem- 
ber contrived  to  get  himself  appointed  Chairman  of  the 
Committee,  to  whom  was  referred  the  very  important 
question,  "  whether  Sir  Edward  Coke,  late  Chief  Justice 
of  the  King's  Bench,  having  been  appointed,  against  his 
will,  Sheriff  of  Buckinghamshire  before  the  general  elec- 
tion, was  disqualified  to  sit  in  the  House  ot  Commons  for 

1  Clarendon. 


1 628.]  SMS    JOHN    FINCH.  233 

another  county?"  The  Committee  very  much  deferred  to 
Finch  as  a  gentleman  of  the  long  robe,  who,  among  lay 
gents,  could  talk  very  glibly  of  law,  and  appointed  him  to 
draw  up  the  report,  "  wherein  many  cases  were  cited,  pro 
ct  contra,  as  to  the  nature  of  a  High  Sheriff  for  one 
county  being  elected  knight  of  the  shire  for  another  ;  on 
all  which  cases,  he  said,  the  Committee  would  give  no 
opinion,  but  desired  that  a  search  might  be  made  amongst 
the  records  for  more  precedents  of  the  like  nature."  A 
dissolution  took  place  before  the  point  was  decided.  In 
the  meantime,  Coke  was  not  allowed  to  sit,  and  the  Court 
was  relieved  from  his  invectives,  which  proved  so  formi- 
dable in  the  next  parliament,  when  the  "  Petition  of  Right" 
was  passed;  but  Finch,  to  show  his  impartiality,  the  day 
before  the  dissolution,  moved  a  resolution,  which  was  car- 
ried, "  that  Sir  Edward  Coke,  standing  de  facto  returned 
a  member  of  that  House,  should  have  privilege  against  a 
suit- in  Chancery  commenced  against  him  by  the  Lady 
Clare." 

It  must  have  required  considerable  ingenuity  to  mystify 
so  clear  a  point  as  that  though  a  Sheriff  could  not  return 
himself  as  member  for  his  own  county,  the  Crown  co.uld 
not,  at  pleasure,  disqualify  him  for  being  returned  for 
another  county,  or  for  a  borough,  over  which  he  had  no 
official  control  ;  but  Finch  had  the  good  luck,  from  his 
conduct  of  this  case,  to  establish  the  reputation  of  a  con- 
stitutional lawyer,  and  to  be  courted,  if  not  confided  in, 
by  both  parties. 

In  consequence  of  this,  at  the  meeting  of  Charles's 
third  parliament,  in  March,  1628,  he  was  actually  elected 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons.  He  had  now  his 
foot  in  the  stirrup,  and  he  resolved  to  push  forward,  ap- 
palled by  no  obstacle,  Though  elected  by  the  voice  of 
the  popular  party,  he  instantaneously  deserted  them,  and 
made  himself  the  mere  tool  of  the  Court.  His  conduct 
as  Speaker  might  have  been  anticipated  from  the  slavish 
and  fulsome  language  he  held  as  soon  as  his  formal  dis- 
qualifying of  himself  had  been  overruled,  and  his  appoint- 
ment had  been  confirmed  by  the  King : — 

"  It  is  now  no  longer  good  time  nor  good  manners  to 
dispute  with  my  Lord  the  King;  but  with  all  joy  and 
alacritv  of  heart,  humbly  and  thankfully  to  meet  so  great 

^2  Parl.  Hist.  46. 


234          CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    7.        [1628. 

a  favor  from  the  best  of  masters  and  the  best  of  men. 
Therefore,  first,  I  lift  up  my  heart  to  him  that  sits  on  the 
throne  of  Heaven,  per  quern  Principes  imperant  et  potentes 
decernunt  justitiam,  humbly  begging  'at  his  hands  that 
made  the  tongue,  to  give  me  speech,  and  that  framed  the 
heart  of  man,  to  give  me  understanding  ;  for  I  am  but  as 
clay  in  the  hands  of  the  potter,  and  he  will  mold  me  for 
honor  or  dishonor  as  best  seems  good  unto  him.  Next  I 
bow  my  knees  unto  your  most  excellent  Majesty,  in  all 
humble  and  hearty  acknowledgment  of  this  and  many 
other  your  great  and  gracious  favors.  The  truth  of  my 
own  heart,  full  of  zeal  and  duty  to  your  Majesty  and  the 
public  as  any  man's,  quits  me  from  all  fear  of  running 
into  willful  and  pregnant  errors  ;  and  your  Majesty's  great 
goodness,  of  which  I  have  been  so  large  a  partaker,  gives 
me  strong  assurance  that  having  been  by  your  gracious 
beams  drawn  up  from  earth  and  obscurity,  you  will  so 
uphold  me  by  a  benign  and  gracious  interpretation  of  all 
my  words  and  actions,  that  I  fall  not  down  again  like  a 
crude  and  imperfect  vapor,  but  consume  the  remainder  of 
my  days  in  zeal  for  your  Majesty's  service.  This  great 
and  glorious  assembly,  made  perfect  by  your  royal  pres- 
ence, like  a  curious  perspective,  the  more  I  behold  it,  with 
the  more  joy  and  comfort  I  find  a  lively  representation 
of  that  true  happiness  which,  under  your  Majesty's 
gracious  government,  we  all  at  this  time  enjoy.  A  better 
tongue  were  -fitter  to  express  it,  but  a  rich  stone  retains 
its  value  though  ill-set.  Here,  in  the  fullness  and  height 
of  your  glory,  like  the  sun  in  the  exaltation  of  his  orb, 
sits  your  Majesty,  the  sovereign  monarch  of  this  famous 
isle,  in  a  throne  made  glorious  by  a  long  succession  of 
many  and  great  princes.  A  meditation  worthy  of  our 
better  thoughts  that  we  live  neither  enthralled  to  the  fury 
and  rage  of  the  giddy  multitude,  nor  yet  to  the  distracted 
wills  of  many  masters  ;  but  under  the  command  of  a 
King  the  stay  and  strength  of  a  people  ;  one,  as  Homer 
saith  well  of  kings,  — 


dvrdgw?  ak\cov, 
not  to  be  laid   in   common  balance  with  other  men  ;  for 
kings  know  no   other  tenure  but  God's  service,  and  their 
value  is  only  tried  at  his  beam." 

He  proceeds  to  inculcate  conformity  to  the  established 


1628.]  Sf£    JOHN    FINCH.  235 

church,  perverting  a  text  of  Scripture  in  a  manner,  I  be- 
lieve quite  original :  "  Coge  ingredi,  ut  impleatur  domus 
mea,  was  his  command  that  made  the  great  feast,  and  is 
the  duty  of  magistrates."  Having  dwelt  long  on  the 
perfection  of  our  church  discipline  as  then  regulated  by 
the  meekness  of  Laud,  he  comes  to  the  state,  and  tells 
the  King,  that,  sitting  on  his  throne,  on  his  right  hand  he 
had  the  reverend,  religious,  and  learned  prelates,  lights 
fit  to  be  set  in  golden  candlesticks,  and  not  made  con- 
temptible by  parity  or  poverty  ;  on  his  left  the  nobles, 
full  of  courage  and  magnanimity,  and  before  him  the  grave 
judges  and  sages  of  the  law,  like  the  twelve  lions  under 
Solomon's  throne,  and  learning  justice  by  his  great  ex- 
ample. Then  after  a  very  extended  and  tiresome  view  of 
foreign  politics,  he  exhorts  all  classes  to  unanimity  under 
so  good  a  Sovereign,  who,  when  he  does  not  at  once  yield 
to  any  request  from  the  two  Houses,  only  says,  "  Le  Roy 
s'avisera."  He  next  expresses  a  wish  that  the  saying 
penitus  toto  divisos  orbe  Britannos  may  not  be  made  good 
by  internal  divisions  among  ourselves,  and  concludes  with 
an  exhortation  to  the  King  himself  to  be  firm  and  resolute 
against  all  his  enemies  :  "  He  that  sits  on  high  will  in  his 
good  time  laugh  them  to  scorn  ;  and  as  that  wise  woman 
said  to  King  David,  God  will  make  to  my  Lord  the  King  a 
sure  house,  if  my  Lord  the  King  will  fight  the  battles  of 
Jehovah, — and  let  all  England  say,  AMEN."  ' 

The  Commons  saw,  when  it  was  too  late,  the  fatal  error 
they  had  committed,  in  choosing  such  a  Speaker.  While 
they  were  vindicating  their  privileges  and  asserting  the 
liberties  of  the  nation,  he  did  every  thing  in  his  power  to 
embarrass  them,  and  to  frustrate  their  efforts.  Although, 
in  consequence  of  a  message  from  the  King  to  hasten  the 
supply,  they  had  agreed  upon  an  address,  which  was  the 
foundation  of  the  "  Petition  of  Right,"  and  had  given 
special  directions  to  Mr.  Speaker  to  press  upon  his  Maj- 
esty the  ancient  authority  of  parliaments  to  dispose  of 
matters  there  debated  in  their  own  way,  and  that  it  was 
the  ancient  custom  to  consider  of  grievances  before  mat- 
ters of  supply, — he  thus  addressed  the  King:  "  Sir,  you 
are  the  breath  of  our  nostrils  and  the  light  of  our  eyes,  and 
besides  those  many  comforts,  which  under  you  and  your 
royal  progenitors  in  this  frame  of  government  this  nation 

1  2  Parl.  Hist.  222. 


236          CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    I.        [1628. 

hath  enjoyed,  the  very  religion  we  profess  hath  taught  us 
whose  image  you  are." 

He  was  constantly  closeted  with  the  King  and  Bucking- 
ham, telling  them  all  that  passed  in  the  House,  and  plot- 
ting with  them  how  the  schemes  of  the  popular  leaders 
might  best  be  defeated.  After  one  of  these  conferences 
he  brought  down  a  very  indiscreet  message  from  the  King, 
intimating  that  the  session  would  be  speedily  closed,  and 
commanding  the  Commons  "not  to  enter  into  or  proceed 
with  any  new  business  which  might  spend  time,  or  might 
lay  any  scandal  or  aspersion  upon  the  state,  government, 
or  ministers  thereof."  This,  as  might  have  been  foreseen, 
set  the  whole  House  in  a  flame. 

Sir  Robert  Philips  thus  began  the  debate  :  "  I  perceive 
that  towards  God  and  towards  man  there  is  little  hope.  I 
consider  mine  own  infirmities,  and  if  ever  my  passions 
were  wrought  upon,  it  is  now.  This  message  stirs  me  up: 
especially,  when  I  remember  with  what  moderation  we 
have  proceeded." 

Sir  John  Eliot  followed,  and  was  alluding  to  certain 
supposed  aspersions  on  the  ministers  of  state,  when  the 
Speaker  started  up  from  the  chair,  and,  apprehending 
that  Sir  John  intended  to  fall  upon  the  Duke  of  Bucking- 
ham, said,  with  tears  which  he  knew  how  to  bring  into 
eyes,  "  There  is  a  command  laid  upon  me  to  interrupt 
any  that  should  go  about  to  lay  an  aspersion  on  the  minis- 
ters of  state." 

A  scene  of  great  confusion  ensued,  which  was  put  an 
end  to  by  the  contrivance  of  resolving  themselves  into  a 
grand  committee  of  the  whole  House  "  on  the  state  of 
the  nation,"  and  so  getting  Finch  out  of  the  chair.  An 
order  was  at  the  same  time  made,  "  that  the  doors  be 
locked,  and  that  no  one  depart  the  House  upon  pain  of 
being  sent  to  the  Tower."  Finch,  against-  whom  this 
resolution  was  passed,  before  quitting  the  chair,  earnestly 
begged  that  he  might  be  allowed  to  be  absent  for  half  an 
hour  on  urgent  private  business,  and  the  permission  was 
magnanimously  accorded  to  him. 

A  hot  discussion  now  ensued,  and  a  resolution  was 
moved,  "  that  the  Duke  of  Buckingham  was  the  cause  of 
all  the  evils  under  which  the  state  labored."  A  member 
observed,  that  for  the  Speaker  to  desire  to  leave  the 
House  in  such  a  manner  was  never  heard  of  before,  and 


T628.J  SIX    JOHN    FINCH.  237 

he  feared  would  be  ominous;  Finch,  in  truth,  had  posted 
off  privately  to  the  King,  and  now  returned  with  this 
message,  "  that  his  Majesty  commands,  for  the  present, 
they  adjourn  the  House  till  to-morrow  morning,  and  that 
all  committees  cease  in  the  mean  time."  An  immediate 
adjournment  took  place  in  consequence. 

The  following  morning  he  brought  a  soothing  message 
from  the  King,  which  they,  with  the  moderation  and  good 
sense  which  distinguished  them,  agreed  to  accept  as  satis- 
faction for  the  insult  offered  to  them  ;  but  they  firmly  de- 
feated his  purpose,  which  was  to  divert  them  from  pro- 
ceeding with  the  "  Petition  of  Right." 

An  evasive  answer  had  been  given  by  the  King,  which, 
under  words  of  seeming  consent,  would  have  been  con- 
strued into  Le  Roy  saverisa  ;  but  they  held  a  conference 
with  the  Lords,  and  both  Houses  being  now  equally  sus- 
picious of  their  Speakers,  they  put  down  in  writing  what 
the  Lord  Keeper  should  say  on  the  subject  to  the  King 
on  the  throne  in  the  House  of  Lords,  and  they  agreed 
"that  he  should  stand  in  his  place  as  a  peer,  and  there  de- 
liver this  request  to  his  Majesty,  and  aftewards  go  to  his 
place  of  state." 

At  last,  Finch  was  obliged  to  come  to  the  bar  at  the 
head  of  the  Commons,  and  after  the  "  Petition  of  Right" 
had  been -read  at  full  length,  he  had  the  mortification  to 
hear  the  words  pronounced,  Soit  fait  come  il  est  ddsirt. 

In  spite  of  this,  Charles  insisted  on  levying  tonnage  and 
poundage  without  authority  of  parliament,  although  they 
were  willing  to  pass  a  bill  to  authorize  the  levy,  where- 
upon notice  was  given  in  the  House,  on  the  2$th  of  June, 
of  a  motion  to  be  made  next  morning  for  a  remonstrance 
to  the  King  against  this  proceeding.  Early  next  morning, 
Finch  went  to  Court  to  take  his  orders,  but  there  much 
perplexity  existed,  and  they  at  last  resolved  on  an  instant 
prorogation.  He  had  been  detained  so  long  by  this  con- 
sultation, that  he  had  kept  the  House  above  an  hour 
waiting  for  him,  and  he  did  not  make  his  appearance  till 
past  nine  o'clock.  He  had  scarcely  been  seated  in  the 
chair  when, — while  the  member  who  had  given  the  notice 
was  beginning  to  read  the  proposed  remonstrance, — three 
knocks  were  heard  at  the  door,  and  the  Black  Rod  enter- 
ing, commanded  them  forthwith  to  attend  his  Majesty  in 
the  House  of  Lords.  Finch  hurried  thither,  and  the 


238          CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    I.         [1629. 

King  sitting  on  the  throne,  without  his  robes  (so  precipi- 
tate was  the  proceeding)  ordered  the  prorogation. 

During  the  second  short  and  stormy  session  of  this  par- 
liament, Finch  continued  to  act  as  the  puppet  of  the 
Court.  The  Commons,  being  very  indignant  at  the  man- 
ner in  which  the  King  tried  to  retract  his  assent  to  the 
"  Petition  of  Right,"  were  preparing  a  remonstrance — 
when  the  Speaker  delivered  a  message  from  his  Majesty 
ordering  them  to  adjourn  for  a  week,  but  they  resolved 
that  "  it  was  not  the  office  of  the  Speaker  to  deliver  any 
such  message  unto  them,  for  the  adjournment  of  the 
House  did  properly  belong  to  themselves." 

Sir  John  Eliot  then  moved  "the  remonstrance;"  but 
Finch  refused  to  put  the  question  from  the  chair,  saying, 
that  "  he  was  commanded  otherwise  by  the  King." 
Selden  asked  him  if  he  refused  to  act  as  Speaker.  He  re- 
plied "  he  had  an  express  command  from  the  King,  so 
soon  as  he  had  delivered  his  message,  to  rise."  There- 
upon he  rose  and  was  leaving  the  chair,  when  Hollis, 
Valentine,  and  others,  in  spite  of  the  efforts  of  certain 
Privy  Councillors  to  free  him,  forced  him  back  into  the 
chair  saying,  "he  should  sit  there  till  it  pleased  them  to 
rise."  Finch,  with  abundance  of  tears,  answered,  "  I  will 
not  say  I  will  not,  but  I  dare  not.  Command  me  not  to 
my  ruin, — in  regard  I  have  been  your  faithful  servant, 
and  would  sacrifice  my  life  for  the  good  of  my  country ; 
but  I  dare  not  sin  against  the  express  command  of  my 
Sovereign." 

Selden  urged,  that  he,  being  the  servant  of  the  House 
could  not  refuse  their  command  under  any  color,  and  that 
his  obstinacy  would  be  a  precedent  to  posterity  if  it 
should  go  unpunished;  but  "he  still  refused,  with  ex- 
tremity of  weeping  and  supplicatory  orations."  ' 

This  fracas  terminated  in  the  barring  out  of  the  Black 
Rod,  the  abrupt  dissolution  of  Charles's  third  parliament, 
and  his  resolution  thereafter  to  govern  by  his  absolute 
prerogative.8 

For  some  years  there  was  a  lack  of  law  promotion,  and 
Finch  did  not  receive  the  reward  of  his  subserviency.  He 
was  not  much  of  a  favorite  with  Lord  Keeper  Coventry, 
who  felt  some  jealousy  of  his  courtly  arts.  He  laid  him- 
self out  for  practice  at  the  bar,  but  there  was  no  confidence 
1  2  Parl.  Hist.  491.  3  St.  Tr.  235.  *  Ante,  p.  205. 


1634.]  SIR    JOHN    FINCH.  239 

in  his  learning  or  integrity,  and  he  could  only  hope  for 
advancement  from  royal  patronage. 

Prynne  had  incurred  the  high  displeasure  of  the  govern- 
ment by  his  Histriomastix,  inveighing  bitterly  against 
theatrical  amusements,  in  which  the  Queen  herself  took  a 
part.  After  he  had  been  condemned  in  the  Star  Chamber 
for  this  publication  as  for  a  seditious  libel,  Finch  thought 
it  would  be  a  good  hit  to  show  that  the  legal  profession 
thoroughly  disapproved  of  its  principles, — by  getting  up 
a  masque,  to  be  acted  by  the  four  Inns  of  Court  before 
their  Majesties.  Two  benchers  were  chosen  by  each  Inn 
of  Court  to  conduct  the  pageant.  Finch  represented 
Gray's  Inn,  and  appears  to  have  acted  as  "  Master  of  the 
revels."  There  were  sixteen  grand  masquers,  "  four  gentle- 
men of  each  Inn  of  Court,  most  suitable  for  their  persons, 
dancing,  and  garb."  The  members  of  the  several  Inns  of 
Court  were  to  intermingle,  and  each  party  of  four  was  to 
be  drawn  in  a  chariot  with  six  horses, — but  great  difficulty 
arose  in  settling  the  precedence  of  the  chariots  which 
respectively  represented  the  dignity  of  each  Inn  of  Court, 
— till  that  thorny  point  was  decided  by  lot.  The  next 
controversy  was,  by  what  rule  the  four  were  to  be  placed 
in  each  chariot, — which  was  resolved  by  the  happy 
thought  of  having  them  made,  like  the  Roman  triumphal 
chariots,"'' of  an  oval  form,  so  that  there  should  be  no  pre- 
cedence in  them." 

The  procession  to  Whitehall  exceeded  the  glories  of  the 
installation  of  a  Lord  Chancellor.  First  marched  the 
Marshal  and  his  men  ;  after  him  came  one  hundred  gen- 
tlemen of  the  Inns  of  Court  mounted  on  horse  back,  "  in 
very  rich  clothes,  scarce  anything  but  gold  and  silver  lace 
to  be  seen  of  them,  with  a  page  and  two  lacqueys  to  each. 
Then  came  the  "  anti-masques,"  intended  for  humor  and 
jocularity, — the  first,  anti-masque  being  of  cripples  and 
beggars  on  horseback,  on  the  poorest  jades  that  could  be 
gotten,  and  ingeniously  habited  so  as  to  ridicule  the  great 
officers  of  the  law,1  and  another  to  satirize  such  projectors 
as  sought  patents  for  useless  schemes,  as  "  the  fish-call, 
or  a  looking-glass  for  fishes  in  the  sea,  very  useful  to  fish- 
ermen to  call  all  kinds  of  fish  to  their  nets," — "the  new 
invented  wind-mate,  very  profitable  when  common  winds 

1  Finch  himself  had  the  chief  hand  in  this,  and  from  his  bad  success  in  the 
profession  hitherto,  probably  took  great  delight  in  it. 


240          CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    I.        [1634. 

fail,  for  a  more  speedy  passage  of  calmed  ships  and  vessels 
on  seas  and  rivers," — "  a  movable  hydraulic,  which,  being 
placed  by  a  bedside,  causeth  sweet  sleep  to  those  who, 
either  by  hot  fevers  or  otherwise  can  not  take  rest." ' 

Then,  to  the  admiration  of  all  beholders,  came  the 
Grand  Masquers  in  their  oval  chariots,  "  their  habits, 
doublets,  trunk-hose,  and  caps  of  most  rich  cloth  of  tissue, 
and  wrought  as  thick  with  silver  spangles  as  they  could 
be  placed,  large  white  silk  stockings  up  to  their  trunk- 
hose,  and  rich  sprigs  in  their  caps ;  themselves  proper  and 
beautiful  young  gentlemen."  Starting  from  Ely  House, 
in  Holborn,  they  marched  down  Chancery  Lane,  through 
the  Strand  to  the  Palace,  where  they  paraded  round  the 
tilt  yard,  that  the  King  and  Queen  "  might  have  a  double 
view  of  them."  They  alighted  at  Whitehall  gate,  when 
the  Masque  began  and  "  was  incomparably  performed." 
Then  followed  a  ball,  in  which  Queen  Henrietta  danced 
with  some  of  the  Masquers,  and  (gaudeo  referens)  "  did 
judge  them  as  good  dancers  as  ever  she  saw."  The  whole 
concluded  with  a  banquet,  after  which  all  departed. 
"  And  thus,"  says  with  quaint  solemnity  the  historian  of 
this  masque,  imitating  the  well-known  passage  from  "  The 
Tempest, ""this  earthly  pomp  and  glory,  if  not  vanity,  was 
soon  past  and  gone  as  if  it  had  never  been."  2 

Finch  and  three  others  were  deputed  to  the  office  of 
returning  thanks,  in  the  name  of  the  four  Inns  of  Court, 
to  the  King  and  Queen, "  for  their  gracious  acceptance  of 
the  tender  of  their  services  in  the  late  masque ;"  and  as 
it  had  given  peculiar  delight  to  Henrietta,  who,  since  the 
death  of  Buckingham,  had  acquired  great  influence,  it  per- 
haps contributed  to  his  elevation  almost  as  much  .as  his 
services  in  the  chair  of  the  House  of  Commons,  for  he  was 
immediately  appointed  Attorney  General  to  the  Queen ; 
and  notwithstanding  his  ignorance  of  law  and  want  of  ex- 
perience he  was  shortly  after  appointed  a  Puisne  Judge 
of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas. 

What  he  wanted  in  law  and  professional  experience,  he 

1  This  was  the  contribution  of  Mr.  Attorney  General  Noy.     It  appears 
from  Rymer's   Fcedera,  vol.  xi'x.,  that  there  were  actually  patents  granted  for 
these  inventions,  and  while  I  was  Attorney  General,  several  as  absurd  were 
applied  for.     The  "  wind-mate"  may  have  been  an  anticipation  of  the  steam- 
engine.  " 

2  Whitelock's  Memorials,  p.  21.     The  cost  to  the  four  Inns  of  Court  was 
calculated  to  be  above  ,£20,000. 


GREAT   SEAL   OF   CHARLES   I. 


1637.]  SIR    JOHN    FINCH.  241 

supplied  in  zeal  for  the  prerogative,  and  in  severity  to 
Puritans  and  to  all  persons  obnoxious  to  the  government 
who  came  before  him.1  In  little  more  than  a  year 
the  grand  question  of  ship-money  arose.  Heath,  the 
Chief  Justice,  being  considered  a  Judge  not  fit  to  be 
trusted,  was  removed,  and  Finch,  well  known  to  be 
ready  to  go  all  lengths,  was  appointed  to  preside  in  his 
place. 

He  did  not  disappoint  expectation.  By  laboring  his 
own  puisnes  and  some  of  the  other  Judges,  he  was  mainly 
instrumental  in  obtaining  the  extra-judicial  opinion  that 
the  King  might  lawfully  impose  ship-money  in  case  of 
necessity,  and  that  he  was  the  sole  judge  of  the  necessity 
for  imposing  it. 

When  Hampden's  case  came  to  be  decided  in  the  Ex- 
chequer Chamber,  Lord  Chief  Justice  Finch  exceeded  all 
the  other  Judges  in  the  slavish  doctrines  which  he  laid 
down. 

"A  parliament  (said  he,  among  many  other  things  quite 
as  strong)  is  an  honorable  court ;  and  I  confess  it  an  ex- 
cellent means  of  charging  the  subject  and  defending  the 
kingdom  ;  but  yet  it  is  not  the  only  means.  Certainly 
there  was  a  King  before  a  parliament,  for  how  else  could 
there  be  an  assembly  of  King,  Lords,  and  Commons  ?  And 
then  what-  sovereignty  was  there  in  the  kingdom  but  his  ? 
His  power,  then,  was  limited  by  the  positive  law;  then  it 
can  not  be  denied  but  originally  the  King  had  the  sover- 
eignty of  the  whole  kingdom,  both  by  sea  and  land,  with 
a  power  of  charging  the  whole  kingdom.  Then  the  law 
that  hath  given  that  power  hath  given  means  to  the  King- 
to  put  it  in  execution.  It  is  a  very  true  rule  that  the  law 
commands  nothing  to  be  done,  but  it  permits  the  ways, 
and  means  how  it  may  be  done,  else  the  law  should  be- 
imperfect,  lame,  and  unjust.  Therefore,  the  law  that  hath 
given  the  interest  and  sovereignty  of  defending  and  gov- 
erning the  kingdom  to  the  King,  doth  also  give  the  King 
power  to  charge  his  subjects  for  the  necessary  defense  and 
good  thereof.  And  as  the  King  is  bound  to  defend,  so 
the  subjects  are  bound  to  obey,  and  to  come  out  of  their 
own  country  if  occasion  be,  and  to  provide  horse  and 

1  Clarendon  thus  characterizes  Noy  and  Finch  at  this  time,  "the  one  know- 
ing nothing  of,  nor  caring  for  the  Court ;  the  other  knowing  or  caring  for 
nothing  else." 

III. — 16' 


242  CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    I.       [1637. 

arms  in  foreign  war ;  and  such  are  compellable  now  to 
find  guns,  powder,  and  shot,  instead  of  bows  and  arrows. 
Then  if  sea  and  land  be  but  one  entire  kingdom,  and  the 
King  lord  of  both,  the  subject  is  bound  as  well  to  the  de- 
fense of  the  sea  as  of  the  land  ;  and  then  all  are  bound  to 
provide  ships,  men,  ammunition,  victuals,  and  necessaries 
for  that  defense.  As  to  the  observations  of  my  brother 
Crooke,  that  we  are  compellable  by  our  persons  and  arms, 
but  not  with  any  sum  of  money,  I  answer  that,  bona  cor- 
poris  are  above  bona  fortunes.  If  this  power  to  command 
the  persons  of  his  subjects  is  in  the  King,  then,  I  say, 
more  reason  that  their  estates  should  be  in  his  power  in 
this  case  of  defense."  He  then  goes  on  to  examine  the 
statutes  and  authorities  cited  on  the  other  side,  making 
very  light  of  them.  Magna  CHARTA  he  dismisses  with 
the  observation,  that  to  the  enactment  "  nullum  tallagium 
imponatur  nisi  per  commune  concilium,"  there  is  the  im- 
plied exception,  unless  for  the  public  good.  To  the  statute 
25  Ed.  i,  c.  5,  and  all  subsequent  statutes  on  the  subject, 
he  gives  the  answer,  that  "  acts  of  parliament  may  take 
away  flowers  and  ornaments  of  the  Crown,  but  not  the 
Crown  itself.  No  act  of  parliament  can  bar  a  King  of  his 
regality,  or  his  trust  and  power  to  defend  his  subjects ; 
therefore,  acts  of  parliament  to  take  away  his  royal  power 
in  the  defense  of  his  kingdom  are  void.  They  are  void 
if  they  profess  to  take  away  the  power  of  the  King  to 
command  the  persons,  goods,  and  money  of  his  subjects: 
no  acts  of  parliament  make  any  difference."  "  The  Peti- 
tion of  Right"  he  treats  with  great  contempt, — on  the 
ground  that,  from  having  been  Speaker  when  it  passed,  he 
knew  there  was  no  intention  thereby  to  alter  the  old  law. 
With  text  writers,  of  course,  he  is  very  unceremonious. 
Fortescue,  he  says,  is  entitled  to  no  weight,  because  the 
treatise  "  De  Laudibus  "  was  written  during  the  wars  of 
York  and  Lancaster,  when  the  author  was  in  exile,  and 
wished  to  please  the  people,  and  to  return  to  his  own 
country.  After  getting  rid  of  all  the  authorities  in  a 
similar  manner,  he  arrives  at  the  conclusion,  "  that  the 
King  has  a  clear  right,  in  case  of  danger,  to  impose  a  tax 
for  the  defense  of  the  realm  ; — that  the  expectancy  of 
danger  is  sufficient  ground  for  the  King  to  charge  his  sub- 
jects ; — that  the  King  is  the  sole  judge  of  the  danger  ; — 
that  the  King's  averment  of  danger  is  not  traversable, — 


1640.]  SIR    JOHN    FINCH.  243 

and  therefore,  that  the  defendant  was  bound  to  pay  the 
sum  assessed  upon  him."  ' 

Lord  Clarendon  says — "  Undoubtedly,  my  Lord  Finch's 
speech  in  the  Exchequer  Chamber  made  ship-money  much 
more  abhorred  and  formidable  than  all  the  commitments 
by  the  Council-table,  and  all  the  distresses  taken  by  the 
Sheriffs  of  England:  the  major  part  of  men  (besides  the 
common  unconcernedness  in  dther  men's  sufferings)  look- 
ing upon  those  proceedings  with  a  kind  of  applause  to 
themselves  to  see  other  men  punished  for  not  doing  as 
they  had  done ; — which  delight  was  quickly  determined 
when  they  found  their  own  interest,  by  the  unnecessary 
logic  of  that  argument,  no  less  concluded  than  Mr. 
Hampden's." 

But  this  logic  endeared  him  to  the  Court,  and  insured 
him  further  preferment  as  soon  as  any  opportunity  should 
occur.  In  the  meanwhile  he  strengthened  his  claim  by 
his  conduct  in  the  Star  Chamber,  where,  having  been 
made  a  Privy  Councillor,  he  now  acted  as  Judge.  •  We 
may  take  as  an  example,  his  proof  that  he  would  not  be 
swayed  by  private  considerations  to  spare  an  old  acquaint- 
ance, when  he  proposed  an  aggravation  to  the  punish- 
ment of  Prynne,  whom  he  had  known  well  at  the  bar. 
The  Court  having  agreed  that  for  a  new  libel  which  he 
had  published  along  with  Bastwick  and  Burton,  "  he 
should  stand  in  the  pillory,  lose  his  ears,  pay  a  fine  of 
^5,ooo,  and  be  perpetually  imprisoned  in  a  distant  for- 
tress." the  Chief  Justice  moved,  by  way  of  amendment, 
"  that  he  should  likewise  be  stigmatized  in  the  cheeks 
with  the  two  letters  S.  and  L.  for  a  Seditious  Libeler," — 
to  which  all  the  Lords  agreed.2 

He  likewise  distinguished  himself  in  pressing  for  severe 
punishment  on  Bishop  Williams,  when  that  Prelate  was 
the  second  time  brought  before  the  Star  Chamber  on  pre- 
tenses more  frivolous  than  the  first,  although  he  had  then 
rather  taken  the  part  of  the  defendant,  not  aware  that  he 
was  so  odious  to  the  Government.  Being  now  reproached 
for  his  inconsistency,  he  replied  with  candor :  "  I  was 
soundly  chidden  by  his  Majesty  for  my  former  vote  ;  and 
I  will  not  destroy  myself  for  any  man's  sake."  : 

At  last,  on  the  death  of  Lord  Keeper  Coventry,  Finch's 
ambition  was  fully  gratified.  That  event  having  happened 

1  3  St.  Tr.  1216.  2  Ibid.  725.  *  Racket's  Life  of  Williams. 


244          CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    I.         [1640 

on  the  1 3th  of  January,  1640,  on  the  i/th  of  the  same 
month  the  Great  Seal  was  delivered  to  him  as  Lord 
Keeper,  and  on  the  23rd,  the  first  day  of  Hilary  term,  he 
was  installed  with  great  pomp  in  the  Court  of  Chancery, 
and  was  raised  to  the  peerage  by  the  title  of  Baron  Finch 
of  Fordwich.1 

This  appointment  caused  great  dismay  at  the  time,  as  a 
proof  of  the  spirit  which  still  actuated  the  King's  coun- 
cils, even  after  the  difficulties  in  which  he  had  been  in- 
volved by  his  arbitrary  government,  and  after  he  had 
found  it  absolutely  necessary  again  to  summon  a  parlia- 
ment. Modern  historians,  even  those  who  are  impartial, 
pass  over  the  promotion  of  Finch  at  this  juncture  without 
a  censure,  and  with  Hsrne  he  is  a  decided  favorite. 

He  held  the  Great  Seal  little  more  than  three  terms, 
and  during  this  short  space  of  time  the  proceedings  in 
the  Courts  of  justice  were  much  interrupted  by  political 
disputes,  so  that  we  do  not  know  much  of  him  as  an 
Equity  Judge ;  but  we  have  an  account  of  one  of  his 
early  cases,  showing  that  his  legal  and  equitable  principles 
corresponded,  and  that  he  acted  in  an  enlarged  sense  on 
the  doctrine  that  "  equity  follows  the  law."  A  bill  was 
filed  to  carry  into  effect  an  order  of  the  Lords  of  the 
Council,  upon  a  matter  over  which  they  had  no  jurisdic- 
tion. The  defendant  demurred  for  want  of  equity,  and 
the  demurrer  coming  on  to  be  argued,  Finch  decreed  for 
the  plaintiff,  saying,  "  that  while  he  was  Keeper  no  man 
should  be  so  saucy  as  to  dispute  these  orders,  and  that  the 
wisdom  of  the  Board  should  be  always  ground  enough 
for  him  to  make  a  decree  in  Chancery."  2 

When  Easter  term  came  round,  he  was  called  away  to 
preside  in  the  House  of  Lords.  Parliaments  having  now 
been  intermitted  above  eleven  years,  the  very  forms  of 
proceeding  were  almost  forgotten,  and  none  of  the  officers 
knew  the  duties  they  had  to  perform.  The  Lord  Keeper 
was  answerable  for  all,  and  much  time  was  occupied  in 
inquiries  and  preparations.  The  public  looked  forward 
with  eager  expectation  to  a  redress  of  grievances,  but  the 

1  Crown  Office  Minutes'  Book,  fol.  i.  He  had  the  extraordinary  honor, 
when  he  was  sworn,  of  having  the  book  held  for  him  by  the  Bishop  of  Lon- 
don, Lord  Treasurer,  and  so  had  his  successor,  Littleton.  On  all  other  occa- 
sions of  this  sort  the  book  is  stated  to  have  been  held  by  the  Master  of  the 
Rolk-  »  I  Clarend.  131. 


1640.]  SIR    JOHN    FINCH.  245 

Court  had  resolved  that  the  attention  of  both   Houses 
should  be  confined  to  the  granting  of  supplies. 

There  was  a  grand  procession  the  first  day  of  the  Ses- 
sion, and  the  people,  delighted,once  more  to  witness  such 
a  spectacle,  were  so  good-humored  and  grateful,  that  the 
less  penetrating  expected  a  happy  result.  The  King  being 
seated  on  his  throne,  and  the  Commons  attending  at  the 
bar  of  the  House  of  Lords,  he  merely  said,  "  that  never 
King  had  a  more  great  and  weighty  cause  to  call  his 
people  together,  but  that  he  would  not  trouble  them  with 
the  particulars,  which  they  would  hear  from  the  Lord 
Keeper." 

Finch  began  by  celebrating  the  goodness  of  the  King 
in  calling  a  parliament,  notwithstanding  the  memory  of 
former  discouragements,  but  strongly  deprecated  their 
interference  with  affairs  of  government.  "  His  Majesty's 
kingly  resolutions  are  seated  in  the  ark  of  his  sacred 
breast,  and  it  were  a  presumption  of  too  high  a  nature 
for  any  Uzziah,  uncalled,  to  touch  it."  He  then  warned 
them  by  the  example  of  Phaeton,  not  to  aim  at  that  of 
which  they  were  incapable.  "  Let  us  beware  how,  with 
the  son  of  Clymene,  we  aim  not  at  the  guiding  of  the 
chariot,  as  if  that  were  the  only  testimony  of  fatherly 
affection,  but  let  us  ever  remember  that  though  the  King 
sometimes  lays  by  the  beams  and  rays  of  Majesty,  he 
never  lays  by  Majesty  itself."  After  taking  a  view  of  the 
foreign  relations  of  the  country,  which  he  justly  repre- 
sented as  highly  satisfactory,  he  says,  "  But  what  availeth 
this,  si  for  is  hostem  non  inveniat,  si  modo  domi  inveniat  f 
He  launches  out  into  a  bitter  invective  against  the  Scots, 
who  had  made  a  most  ungrateful  return  for  all  the  King's 
affection  and  bounty.  "  For  when  his  Majesty  had  most 
reason  to  expect  a  grateful  return  of  loyalty  and  obedi- 
ence from  that  nation,  some  men  of  Belial,  some  Zelia 
hath  blown  the  trumpet  there,  and  by  their  insolences 
and  rebellious  actions  draw  many  after  them,  to  the  utter 
desertion  of  his  Majesty's  government.  Following  the 
wicked  counsels  of  some  Achitophels,  they  have  seized  on 
the  trophies  of  honor,  and  invested  themselves  with  regal 
power  and  authority."  He  draws  a  striking  contrast  be- 
tween Scotland  and  Ireland,  where  all  was  loyalty  and 
obedience,  and  the  parliament  had  lately  voted  large  sub- 
sidies to  assist' his  Majesty  in  restoring  tranquillity  in  this 


246          CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    I.         [1640. 

island.  He  desires  the  English  parliament  to  follow  so 
good  an  example,  and  "for  a  while  laying  aside  all  other 
debates,  to  pass  such  and  so  many  subsidies  as  should  be 
thought  fit  and  convenient  for  so  great  an  occasion."  To 
avoid  all  questions  about  tonnage  and  poundage,  he  said 
his  Majesty  had  caused  a  bill  to  be  prepared  to  authorize 
the  collection  of  the  tax  from  the  commencement  of  his 
reign.  This  was  the  only  concession  alluded  to  ;  but  he 
assured  them,  that  "  after  the  grant  of  such  a  supply  as 
the  urgency  of  the  King's  affairs  instantly  required,  which 
he  would  accept  as  the  pledge  of  their  loving,  happy,  and 
dutiful  affection  to  him,  his  person  and  government,  they 
should  afterwards  have  an  abundant  opportunity  for  con- 
sidering of  such  petitions  as  they  should  conceive  for  the 
good  of  the  commonwealth."1 

But  the  Commons  instead  of  yielding  to  this  request  on 
the  faith  of  this  promise,  immediately  fell  upon  griev- 
ances,— ship-money, — the  levying  of  duties  on  merchan- 
dise without  the  authority  of  parliament, — the  cruelties 
of  the  Star  Chamber  and  High  Commission  Court, — and 
breach  of  the  privilege  of  the  House  in  prosecuting  and 
punishing  members  for  words  spoken  in  the  House. 
Above  all,  they  took  up  with  earnestness  the  conduct  of 
the  Lord  Keeper  Finch,  when  Speaker  of  the  House  of 
Commons,  on  the  last  day  of  the  last  parliament.  Sir  Harry 
Vane  gave  a  circumstantial  account,  from  notes  taken  at 
the  time,  of  the  whole  transaction,  and  of  the  Speaker's 
expressions,  "that  he  dared  not  put  the  question,  that 
he  was  commanded  not  to  put  the  question,  and  that 
they  should  not  force  him  to  his  ruin."  A  motion  was 
thereupon  made  and  carried,  that  a  select  committee  be 
appointed  to  prepare  a  representation  to  his  Majesty  of 
the  violation  of  the  liberties  of  this  House  that  happened 
the  last  day  of  the  last  parliament,  humbly  beseeching 
his  Majesty  "  that  the  like  violation  may  not  hereafter  be 
brought  in  practice  to  his  prejudice  or  theirs."  And  a 
resolution  was  carried,  "that  it  is  the  opinion  of  this 
House,  that  the  Speaker's  refusing  to  put  the  question 
after  a  verbal  command  from  his  Majesty,  signified  to  this 
House  by  the  Speaker,  to  adjourn,  and  no  adjournment 
made  by  this  House,  is  a  breach  of  the  privileges  of  this 

T   T  )t  A  O 

House. 

1  2  Part,  Hist.  529. 


1640.]  SIR    JOHN    FINCH.  247 

The  Lord  Keeper  thought  that  all  these  mutinous 
dispositions  might  be  quelled  by  a  proper  display  of 
vigor.  Accordingly,  on  the  2Oth  of  April,  both  Houses 
were  summoned  to  attend  in  the  banqueting  house  at 
Whitehall,  and  there,  in  the  King's  presence,  he  read  a 
lecture  upon  the  necessity  of  giving  supply  precedence 
over  grievances;  but  the  Commons  were  obstinate,  and 
on  returning  to  their  Chamber  after  a  long  debate,  re- 
solved to  prefer  grievances  to  supply.  Charles  then, 
without  the  Lord  Keeper's  advice  or  privity,  took  one  of 
those  rash  steps  which  led  to  such  fatal  consequences  in 
the  dispute  now  commencing.  He  came  suddenly  into 
the  House  of  Lords,  and  seating  himself  in  his  chair  of 
state,  without  his  robes,  he  addressed  the  Peers,  and  so- 
licited their  good  offices  in  prevailing  on  the  Commons 
to  grant  an  immediate  supply.  When  he  withdrew,  the 
Lords,  flattered  by  his  appeal  to  them,  immediately 
agreed,  on  the  motion  of  the  Lord  Keeper,  "  that  the 
supply  should  have  precedency,  and  be  resolved  upon  be- 
fore any  other  matter  whatsoever,  and  that  there  should 
be  a  conference  desired  with  the  Commons  in  order  to 
dispose  them  thereto." 

The  Commons  having  agreed  to  the  conference,  it  was 
managed  on  the  part  of  the  Lords  by  the  Lord  Keeper, 
who  strongly  urged  the  Commons  to  postpone  the  con- 
sideration of  their  supposed  grievances,  reminding  them 
that  "  they  had  the  word  of  a  King,  and  not  only  so  but 
of  a  gentleman"  :  for  all  they  required  respecting  religion, 
property  and  privilege.  "  Lastly,  he  told  the  Commons 
that  the  Lords  had  voted  and  declared  as  their  opinion, 
that  his  Majesty's  supply  should  have  precedency  and  be 
resolved  on  before  any  other  matter  whatsoever ;  there- 
fore he  desired  the  House  of  Commons  to  go  on  with 
that  first,  as  that  which  in  the  opinion  of  the  House  of 
Lords  is  held  most  necessary."  " 

As  might  easily  have  been  foreseen,  the  Commons  were 
highly  incensed  by  these  proceedings,  and  came  to  a  reso- 
lution "  that  their  Lordships  voting,  propounding,  and 
declaring,  concerning  matter  of  supply  before  it  was 
moved  from  this  House,  was  a  breach  of  privilege,  and 
that  a  remonstrance  should  be  sent  to  the  Lords  to  this 

1  One  of  the  earliest  instances  of  "  gentleman"  being  used  in  this  sense. 

2  2  Parl.  Hist.  553. 


248  CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    I.       [1640. 

effect ;  and  the  Lords  voted  a  counter-resolution,  that 
their  merely  expressing  an  opinion  on  the  order  in  which 
the  subject  of  supply  should  be  considered,  was  no  breach 
of  the  privileges  of  the  Commons." 

Under  the  advice  of  Pym  and  Waller  the  Commons  still 
insisted  on  proceeding  with  grievances.  The  King  sent 
them  two  other  messages  to  hasten  the  supply,  and  find- 
ing them  inflexible, — by  the  rash  and  ruinous  advice  of 
the  Lord  Keeper,  he  suddenly  made  his  appearance  on 
the  throne,  and  having  praised  the  Lords  and  severely 
censured  the  Commons,  abruptly  dissolved  the  parliament 
from  which  such  national  benefits  had  been  expected. 
This  measure  is  deeply  deplored  by  Clarendon,  who 
truly  says  that  there  never  was  a.  parliament  in  which 
Charles  had  so  many  true  friends,  and  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  if  he  had  evinced  any  sincere  disposition  to 
correct  the  errors  of  his  government,  an  adequate  supply 
would  readily  have  been  granted  to  him,  the  Scottish  in- 
surrection would  have  been  suppressed,  and  he  would 
soon  have  been  relieved  from  all  his  difficulties.  Again, 
had  Strafford  been  at  hand,  the  business  would  have  been 
conducted  with  more  dexterity,  and  there  would  have 
been  a  fair  chance  of  success  to  arbitrary  rule.  But  that 
able  minister  being  in  Ireland,  a  country  then  as  distant 
from  us  for  practical  purposes  as  America  now  is,  Charles 
was  left  with  such  councillors  as  Finch  and  Laud,  more 
inconsiderate  and  violent  than  himself,  and  all  tended  to 
a  popular  revolution.  Bellasis  and  Sir  John  Hotham,  who 
had  opposed  the  Court  in  the  Lower  House,  were  im- 
mediately summoned  before  the  Council,  and  refusing  to 
answer  the  questions  the  Lord  Keeper  put  to  them  re- 
specting their  conduct  in  parliament,  were  committed  to 
prison.  Crew,  the  chairman  of  the  committe  of  religion, 
shared  the  same  fate,  because  he  would  not  deliver  up  the 
petitions  and  complaints  which  had  been  intrusted  to 
him. 

The  Lord  Keeper  gave  a  fresh  instance  of  his  ignorance 
and  folly  by  publishing  an  opinion  in  which  he  induced 
some  of  the  Judges  to  join  him,  that  the  Convocation, 
after  the  dissolution  of  the  parliament,  was  still  entitled 
to  sit  and  grant  supplies  from  the  clergy, — and  by  a  novel 
commission  under  the  Great  Seal,  he  authorized  them  to 
frame  an  ecclesiastical  code  adapted  to  the  exigency  of 


2640.]  SIR    JOHN    FINCH.  249 

the  times.  The  more  timid  members  of  the  Convocation 
were  still  much  alarmed,  but  a  majority  agreed  to  seven- 
teen new  canons,  and  although  they  in  various  particulars 
affected  the  rights  of  the  laity  and  were  clearly  illegal, 
they  all  received  the  royal  assent,  one  of  them  being 
"  that  every  clergyman,  four  times  in  the  year,  should  in- 
struct his  parishioners  in  the  Divine  right  of  Kings,  and 
the  damnable  sin  of  resistance." '  These  ecclesiastical 
enactments  added  greatly  to  the  general  excitement. 
The  vessel  was  already  full,  and  this  last  drop  made  the 
waters  of  bitterness  to  overflow."  * 

Nothing  so  strikingly  proves  how  universally  the  feeling 
of  resentment  against  the  government  prevailed  in  the 
nation,  as  that  it  infected  the  camp,  and  unnerved  the 
English  soldier, — insomuch,  that  now  occurred  the  only 
instance  in  our  history  of  an  English  army  flying  from  the 
field  of  battle.  "  The  King  saw  plainly  that  both  divers 
officers  of  his  army,  and  even  the  private  soldiers  gener- 
ally (which  was  a  most  remarkable  inclination),  would 
not  fight  against  the  Scots." ' 

After  the  rout  at  Newburn,  and  the  flight  to  Durham, 
Charles  and  his  councillors  were  in  a  state  of  the  utmost 
perplexity.  Without  funds,  his  troops  must  be  immedi- 
ately disbanded,  and  Leslie,  with  his  Covenanters,  might 
march  triumphant  to  join  the  discontented  in  London.* 
The  late  unfortunate  dissolution  of  the  parliament  was 
already  deeply  deplored,  but  to  meet  a  new  House  of 
Commons  seemed  a  measure  not  only  humiliating  but 
hopeless.  The  Peers  had  been  willing  to  grant  a  supply,  and 
the  King  had  parted  amicably  with  them.  Finch  sug- 
gested that  they  might  be  summoned  without  the  Com- 
mons, and  treated  as  a  national  assembly, — pretending 
that  there  were  various  precedents  for  a  great  Council  of 
the  Peers  so  acting  in  cases  of  imminent  national  danger. 
The  advice  was  relished,  and  he  issued  writs  of  summons 
under  the  Great  Seal  to  all  the  Peers,  requiring  them  to 

1  Rush.  i.  1205.     Wilk.  Con.  iv.  553.  8  Clarendon.         3  Whitelock. 

4  Another  difficulty  was  then  experienced  (which  ws  now  meet  by  the 
annual  Mutiny  Act),  that  the  Petition  of  Right  having  abolished  martial  law, 
there  were  no  means  of  punishing  military  offenses.  Even  Finch  was  obliged 
to  acknowledge  this,  and  he  privately  passed  pardons  under  the  Great  Seal  to 
officers  who  had  found  it  necessary  to  execute  a  mutineer.  Lord  Conway 
said  upon  the  occasion,  that  if  any  lawyer  were  so  imprudent  as  to  discover 
the  secret  to  his  soldiers,  it  would  be  necessary  instantly  to  refute  him,  and  to 
hang  him  by  sentence  of  a  court-martial. — Rush.  iii.  1199. 


250        CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    7.          [1640. 

meet  at  York  on  the  25th  of  September  to  consult  with 
the  King  de  arduis  regni. 

Before  the  day  arrived,  petitions  poured  in  from  all 
quarters  for  the  calling  of  a  parliament,  as  the  only  remedy 
to  save  the  nation  from  anarchy  and  ruin ;  and  many 
Peers  joining  in  these,  Charles  foresaw  that  this  would  be 
the  first  recommendation  of  the  Great  Council.  He 
yielded  to  the  torrent,  which  he  despaired  of  being  able 
to  stem.  But  though  it  was  announced  that  a  parliament 
should  be  summoned,  the  Peers  were  allowed  to  as- 
semble, and  "the  Grand  Council"  was  constituted.  In 
his  address  to  them,  the  King,  according  to  the  informa- 
tion he  had  received  from  the  Lord  Keeper,  stated  "  that 
upon  sudden  invasions,  where  the  dangers  were  near  and 
instant,  it  had  been  the  custom  of  his  predecessors  to  as- 
semble the  Great  Council  of  the  Peers  ;  and,  by  their  ad- 
vice and  assistance,  to  give  a  timely  remedy  to  such  evils 
which  could  not  admit  a  delay  so  long  as  must,  of  neces- 
sity, be  allowed  for  the  assembling  of  parliament."  But 
Lord  Clarendon  says,  "  this  assembly  of  the  Peers  was 
a  new  invention,  not  before  heard  of;  or  so  old,  that  it 
had  not  been  practiced  in  England  for  some  hundreds  of 
years;"  and,  in  truth,  since  the  time  of  Henry  III.,  when 
the  Commons  became  a  constituent  part  of  the  legislature, 
there  had  been  no  instance  of  the  Peers  being  summoned 
without  them  to  deliberate  on  public  affairs.  As  nothing 
was  done  at  this  Council,  historians  have  been  much 
puzzled  to  explain  the  motive  for  calling  it  ;  but  there 
can  be  little  doubt  that  when  the  writs  for  it  issued,  the 
intention  was  that  it  should  take  upon  itself  all  the  func- 
tions of  parliament,  and  that  it  was,  by  a  coup-d'etat,  to 
supersede  the  House  of  Commons,  which  had  been  found 
so  troublesome.  The  attempt  created  serious  alarm  among 
the  middling  and  lower  orders  of  the  people,  and  was  re- 
garded as  another  proof  of  a  deep-laid  scheme  to  crush 
public  liberty. 

Although  Charles  announced  to  the  Great  Council  that 
he  had  already  given  orders  to  his  Lord  Keeper  to  issue 
writs  for  a  parliament,  the  general  conviction  was,  that  this 
was  the  result  of  his  altered  purpose,  and  that  the  nation 
was  to  have  been  taxed  by  an  ordinance  of  the  House  of 
Lords.  To  save  appearances  they  held  several  meetings, 
• — advised  the  negotiation  with  the  Scots,  whicV  ended  in 


1640.]  SIX    JOHN    FINCH.  251 

the  treaty  of  Ripon, — and  sent  a  deputation  to  London, 
to  assist  in  borrowing  money  for  the  support  of  the  army. 
They  then  all  quietly  dispersed. 


CHAPTER    LXIV. 

CONCLUSION   OF   THE   LIFE   OF  LORD   KEEPER  FINCH. 

ON  the  3rd  of  November  began  the  most  memorable 
parliament  recorded  in  our  annals.     Instead  of  the 
usual  grand  procession,  the  King,  attended  by  the 
Lord  Keeper  and  a  few  of  the  great  officers  of  state,  came 
privately  by  water  from  Whitehall,  and  landed  at  the  par- 
liament stairs,  near  where  Westminster  Bridge  now  stands. 
The  King,  after  a  few  general  observations,  in  a  very  con- 
ciliatory and  touching  tone,  said  he  had  commanded  his 
Lord  Keeper  to  give   a  particular   account  of  what  had 
happened  since  the  last  dissolution. 

Finch's  address  was  very  artful  ;  his  great  object  being 
to  divert  indignation  from  himself  to  the  Scots.  Having 
eulogized  the  bravery,  and  genius,  and  greatness  of  the 
natives  of  England,  he  boldly  denied  that  they  had  ever 
been  conquered  either  by  Saxons,  Danes,  or  Normans. 
"  It  were  an  easy  task,"  he  said,  "  to  make  it  appear  that 
they  never  changed  the  old  established  laws  of  England, 
nor  ever  brought  in  any  new,  so  that  you  have  the  frame 
and  constitution  of  a  commonwealth,  made  glorious  by 
antiquity ;  and,  with  states  as  with  persons  and  families, 
certainly  an  uninterrupted  pedigree  doth  give  luster." 
He  then  pointed  out  the  extreme  presumption  of  the 
Scots,  in  passing  with  an  army  the  rivers  Tweed  and  Tyne, 
seizing  upon  Newcastle,  and  levying  contributions  on 
Northumberland  and  Durham  "to  the  prejudice  of 
monarchy,  and  rendering  less  glorious  this  kingdom." 
Next  came  the  indispensable  necessity  of  instantly  pro- 
viding funds  for  supporting  an  army,  by  which  the  in- 
vasion might  be  opposed,  the  King's  authority  vindicated, 
and  the  honor  of  the  country  maintained.  Aware  of  the 
ill  construction  that  had  been  put  upon  the  Council  of 
the  Peers  at  York,  he  pretended  to  say  that  it  was  after  a 


252  CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    I.       [1640. 

custom  which  had  been  frequently  used  : '  "  This  was  not 
done  to  prevent,  but  to  prepare  for  a  parliament.  It  was 
not  to  clash  or  interfere  with  this  assembly,  by  acting  or 
ordering  any  thing  which  belongeth  to  this  high  and  su- 
preme jurisdiction,  but  only  to  give  their  assistance  for 
the  present  to  render  things  more  fit  for  this  great  as- 
sembly. They  could  never  attempt,  nor  had  the  least 
thought  to  make,  by  any  act  or  order,  any  thing  tending 
to  charge  the  subject."  * 

Nevertheless,  there  was  a  greater  disposition  to  sympa- 
thize with  the  Scots  than  to  raise  an  army  for  their  des- 
truction, as  they  declared  their  only  object  was  to  lay 
their  grievances  before  their  Sovereign.  The  elaborate 
denial  of  all  bad  intentions  in  calling  the  Council  of  the 
Peers  at  York  strengthened  the  previous  suspicions  on 
this  subject,  and  the  Commons  only  waited  till  their 
Speaker  was  chosen  that  they  might  proceed  against  the 
authors  of  their  grievances, — of  whom  the  Lord  Keeper 
himself  was  considered  one  of  the  most  guilty. 

In  a  few  days  he  had  a  specimen  of  the  temper  of  the 
Commons,  and  a  forewarning  of  his  own  fate, — in  the  im- 
peachment, suddenly  voted  with  closed  doors,  against  the 
Earl  of  Strafford  ; — and,  as  the  organ  of  the  Peers,  he  was 
obliged  to  issue  the  order  for  the  commitment  of  his  col- 
league, and  to  direct  that  he  should  at  once  be  carried 
off  by  the  Sergeant-at-arms,  without  then  being  permitted 
to  say  a  word  in  his  own  defense.3 

It  is  said  that  Finch  gave  out  now  privately  that  he  was 
willing  to  go  over  to  the  popular  party,  and  to  do  every 
thing  he  could  to  assist  them,  and  that  he  had  actually 
made  some  impression  on  the  most  violent  leaders,  who 
hoped  to  have  turned  him  into  a  useful  tool  ;  but  that 
Lord  Falkland,  Hyde,  and  the  more  moderate  reformers, 
put  an  end  to  the  negotiation,  thinking  that  he  might,  in 
his  new-born  zeal  for  liberty,  suggest  measures  which 
would  be  dangerous  to  the  monarchy. 

The  Lords  seem  to  have  originated  no  proceeding  be- 
fore Finch's  fall,  except  an  inquiry  into  the  manner  in 
which  the  studies  and  the  repositories  of  Lord  Warwick 

1  Although  Camden  and  Selden  flourished  about  this  time,  it  is  certain  that 
the  general  mass  of  men  of  education  were  by  no  means  so  well  acquainted 
with  the  history  and  antiquities  of  the  country  as  at  the  present  day — or  the 
Lord  Keeper  durst  not  have  ventured  on  such  an  assertion. 

2  2  Parl.  Hist.  630.  *  Ibid.  734. 


1640.]  SIR    JOHN    FINCH.  253 

and  Lord  Brook  had  been  searched  at  the  conclusion  of 
the  last  parliament  within  time  of  privilege ;  and  upon 
this  occasion  he  took  the  liberal  side,  although  the  acts 
complained  of  must  have  been  done  with  his  privity.  Sir 
William  Beecher,  the  clerk  of  the  Council,  being  brought 
to  the  bar,  the  Lord  Keeper  demanded  of  him  "by  what 
warrant  he  had  searched  and  carried  away  the  papers  of 
the  aforesaid  Peers  ?"  The  witness  having  demurred  to 
answer,  on  the  ground  "that  he  was  the  King's  sworn 
servant,  and  that  he  must  acquaint  the  King  with  the 
matter  before  he  answered,"  the  Lord  Keeper  ordered 
him  to  show  his  warrant,  and  blamed  him  for  naming  the 
King  in  the  business  ;  and,  he  again  refusing  to  give  a 
direct  answer  till  the  King  was  made  acquainted  with  it, 
the  Lord  Keeper  told  him  that  "  the  Lords  did  take  him 
to  be  the  chief  actor  of  the  fact,  and  were  resolved  to  pro- 
ceed against  him  as  the  principal."  Sir  William  was  finally 
committed  to  the  Fleet,  but  in  two  days  after,  on  ac- 
knowledging his  error,  he  was  released.  At  this  time 
there  certainly  was  a  large  majority  of  the  Lords  against 
the  Court,  and,  though  attached  to  the  monarchy,  eager 
for  a  correction  of  the  abuses  which  had  prevailed  both  in 
the  church  and  the  state.  But  as,  according  to  the  ad- 
justment of  the  respective  functions  of  the  two  Houses 
in  Floyde's  case,  they  were  to  sit  as  Judges,  the  Commons 
being  the  Accusers, — they  properly  remained  quiet  till 
charges  should  regularly  be  brought  before  them. 

In  the  meanwhile  the  Commons  having  liberated  Prynne, 
Bastwick,  and  Burton,  and  procured  the  commitment  of 
Strafford  and  Laud  to  the  Tower,  proceeded  against  Lord 
Keeper  Finch  as  the  person  next  most  obnoxious  to 
them.  The  chief  grounds  of  complaint  against  him  were 
his  conduct  as  Speaker,  in  refusing  to  put  the  question  ; 
his  oppressive  peryersion  of  the  Forest  Laws  ;  his  en- 
deavors to  incense  the  King  against  parliaments ;  and, 
above  all,  his  conduct  with  respect  to  ship-money,  in 
obtaining  the  extra-judicial  opinion  of  the  Judges  against 
Hampden,  and  in  declaring  on  «his  circuit  that  the  right 
to  ship-money  was  so  inherent  in  the  Crown,  that  no  act 
of  parliament  could  take  it  away. 

Bagshaw,  the  member  for  Southwark,  referring  to  the 
Lord  Keeper's  recent  honeyed  words,  said,  "  If  these 
troublers  of  our  Israel  do  go  unpunished,  it  will  never  be 


254          CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    I.        [1640. 

better  with  us ;  for  now,  during  parliament,  like  frozen 
snakes,  their  poison  dries  up ;  but  let  the  parliament  dis- 
solve, and  then  their  poison  melts  and  scatters  abroad, 
and  doth  more  hurt  than  ever.  What  then  must  be  done  ? 
Why,  what  the  plaster  can  not  do,  must  be  done  with  the 
saw : 

Ense  recidendum  est,  ne  pars  sincera  trahatur. 

I  can  not  better  English  it  than  in  the  words  of  a  King : 
'  Let  them  be  cut  off  in  their  wickedness  that  have  framed 
mischief  as  a  law'  " 

The  formal  motion  for  Finch's  impeachment  was 
brought  forward  by  the  virtuous,  moderate,  and  loyal 
Lord  Falkland,  who  said,  "  this  great  delinquent  pursued 
his  hatred  to  the  fountain  of  justice,  by  corrupting  the 
streams  of  it — the  laws — and  perverting  and  corrupting 
the  judges  who  administered  it.  He  endeavored  to  anni- 
hilate the  ancient  and  notorious  perambulations  of  par- 
ticular forests,  the  better  to  prepare  himself  for  annihi- 
lating the  ancient  and  notorious  perambulations  of  the 
whole  kingdom,  the  metes  and  boundaries  between  the 
liberties  of  the  subject  and  sovereign  power,  to  bring  all 
laws  from  his  Majesty's  courts  into  his  Majesty's  breast. 
He  gave  our  goods  to  the  King,  our  lands  to  the  deer, 
and  our  liberties  to  the  sheriffs;  so  that  there  was  no  way 
in  which  we  should  not  have  been  oppressed  and  destroyed 
if  his  power  had  been  equal  to  his  will.  Being  a  sworn 
Judge  of  the  law,  he  has  not  only  given  his  judgment 
against  law,  but  has  been  the  solicitor  to  corrupt  all  the 
other  Judges  to  concur  with  him  in  perverting  it."  ' 

Some  of  the  leading  men,  in  consequence  of  the 
intrigue  I  have  referred  to,  wished  to  screen  him ;  and, 
suggesting  that  they  had  already  too  much  business  on 
their  hands,  proposed  to  suspend  the  debate  on  ship- 
money  till  there  should  be  more  leisure  to  discuss  a  sub- 
ject of  such  importance. 

Thereupon  Hyde,  still  of  the  popular  party,  rose,  and 
urged  that  delay  would  make  future  examination  of  no 
purpose ;  and  therefore  proposed  immediately  that,  while 
the  House  was  sitting,  a  small  committee  might  be  ap- 
pointed, who,  dividing  themselves  into  the  number  of  two 
and  two  might  visit  all  the  Judges,  and  ask  them  apart, 

1  2  Parl.  Hist.  685. 


1640.]  SIR    JOHN    FINCH.  255 

in  the  name  of  the  House,  what  messages  the  Lord  Finch, 
when  he  was  Chief  Justice  of  the  Court  of  Common 
Pleas,  had  brought  to  them  from  the  King  in  the  business 
of  ship-money,  and  whether  he  had  not  solicited  them  to 
give  judgment  for  the  King  in  that  case?  This  motion 
was  generally  approved  of  by  the  House,  and  carried 
without  a  division.  A  committee  of  eight  persons  was 
accordingly  appointed  forthwith  to  meet  the  Judges,  who 
were  then  expected  to  be  found  at  their  chambers  in 
Sergeants'  Inn. 

Justice  Crooke,  and  some  other  members  of  the  learned 
body,  being  surprised  with  the  questions,  and  pressed 
earnestly  to  make  clear  and  categorical  answers,  ingenu- 
ously acknowledged  that  the  Chief  Justice  Finch,  whilst 
the  matter  was  pending,  earnestly  solicited  them  to  give 
their  judgment  for  the  King,  and  often  used  his  Majesty's 
name  to  them,  as  if  he  expected  that  compliance  from 
them. 

Hyde,  the  chairman  of  the  committee,  having  pre- 
sented a  report  stating  these  particulars,  the  House  was 
forthwith  about  to  vote  the  impeachment,  when  a  member 
rose,  and  said  that  the  Lord  Keeper,  to  whom  he  had  the 
honor  of  being  nearly  related,  having  heard  that  certain 
charges  were  brought  against  him  in  the  Commons'  House 
of  Parliament,  entertaining  a  consciousness  of  his  own 
innocence,  and  feeling  the  highest  respect  for  the  House, 
of  which  he  had  once  been  Speaker,  desired,  ere  they 
proceeded  further,  to  be  heard  before  them  in  his  own  vin- 
dication. 

Leave  was  immediately  given  that  he  should  be  heard, 
and  it  was  requested  that  he  should  attend  at  the  sitting 
of  the  House  at  eight  o'clock  the  following  morning. 
This  message  being  carried  to  him  while  he  was  on  the 
woolsack  in  the  other  House,  he  moved  that  he  should 
have  leave  to  go  to  the  House  of  Commons  to  clear  him- 
self of  certain  charges  brought  against  him  there,  to 
which  the  Lords  unanimously  consented. 

The  following  day  was  looked  forward  to  with  much 
expectation.  Finch's  accusers  intended  that,  as  soon  as 
he  should  be  heard,  the  vote  for  impeachment  should  be 
carried,  that  the  impeachment  should  instantly  be  sent  up 
to  the  Lords,  and  that  they  should  demand  his  immediate 
commitment  to  the  Tower — so  that  he  might  be  safe  with 


256  CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    I.       [1640. 

Stratford  and  Laud,  and  might  not  have  an  opportunity 
of  following  the  example  of  Secretary  Windebank,  who, 
on  a  charge  being  originated  against  him,  had  fled  to  the 
Continent.  His  friends,  on  the  contrary,  were  sanguine 
in  the  expectation  that  he  might  make  a  favorable  impres- 
sion on  the  House,  so  that,  with  the  secret  countenance 
he  expected  from  some  of  the  leaders,  the  impeachment 
might  be  negatived — and,  at  any  rate,  they  were  resolved 
that  he  should  have  "  a  run  for  it." 

Next  morning,  the  House  having  met  at  eight,  as  soon 
as  prayers  were  over,  a  chair  was  set  for  the  Lord  Keeper 
to  make  use  of  if  he  pleased,  and  a  stool  to  lay  the  purse 
upon,  a  little  within  the  bar,  on  the  left  hand  as  you 
enter.  He  presented  himself  in  his  robes,  carrying 
the  purse  in  his  own  hand ;  and  having  bowed  to  the 
Speaker,  he  laid  it  on  the  chair.  He  would  not  sit  down 
himself,  nor  put  on  his  hat,  though  he  was  moved  to  do  it 
by  the  Speaker,  but  spoke  all  the  while  bare-headed  and 
standing,  the  Sergeant-at-Arms  attending  the  House  con- 
tinuing by  him  with  the  mace  on  his  shoulder. 

Lord  Finch  appears  to  have  gained  more  applause  on 
this  occasion  than  he  had  ever  before  done.  Whitelock, 
who  says,  "it  was  a  sad  sight  to  see  a  person  of  his  great- 
ness, parts,  and  favor,  to  appear  in  such  a  posture  before 
such  an  assembly  to  plead  for  his  life  and  fortune," — de- 
clares that  "  the  apology  was  elegant  and  ingenious,  and 
delivered  with  an  excellent  grace  and  gesture,  and  that 
many  were  exceedingly  taken  with  his  eloquence  and  car- 
riage,"— and  Rigby,  the  Member  for  Wigan,  who  spoke 
first  after  he  had  withdrawn,  thus  began :  "  Mr.  Speaker, 
though  my  judgment  prompts  me  to  sit  still  and  be  silent, 
yet  the  duty  I  owe  to  my  King,  my  country,  and  my 
conscience  moves  me  to  stand  up  and  exhort  you  to  be 
firm  and  inflexible.  Had  not  this  siren  so  sweet  a  tongue, 
surely  he  could  never  have  effected  so  much  mischief  to 
this  kingdom.  You  know,  Sir,  optimorum  putrefactio 
pcssima^  the  best  things  putrefied  become  the  worst,  and 
as  it  is  in  the  natural  so  in  the  body  politic."1 

Yet  such  as  it  has  come  down  to  us,  it  by  no  means 
merits  these  encomiums,  and  it  must  either  be  very  im- 
perfectly reported,  or  he  must  have  had  the  full  measure 
of  favor  at  all  times  shown  in  the  House  of  Commons  to 

1  2  Parl.  Hist.  692. 


1640.]  SIR    JOHN    FINCH.  257 

any  one  vindicating  himself  with  tolerable  address  from  a 
personal  accusation.  He  begins  well  by  trying  to  in- 
sinuate himself  into  the  good  graces  of  his  audience : — 
"  Mr.  Speaker,  I  do  first  present  my  most  humble  thanks 
to  this  honorable  assembly  for  this  favor  vouchsafed  me, 
in  granting  me  admittance  to  their  presence,  and  do 
humbly  beseech  them  to  believe  it  is  no  desire  to  pre- 
serve myself  or  my  fortune,  but  to  deserve  your  good 
opinions,  that  hath  drawn  me  hither.  I  do  profess  in  the 
presence  of  Him  who  knoweth  all  hearts,  that  I  had 
rather  go  from  door  to  door,  and  crave  Da  obohim  Bclisario, 
with  the  favorable  censure  of  this  assembly  than  live  and 
enjoy  all  honor  and  fortune  under  your  displeasure."  He 
then  goes  on-  to  justify  his  religion,  "  which  was  well 
known  to  be  pure  Protestantism  by  all  the  members  of 
the  Society  of  Gray's  Inn,  where  he  lived  thirty  years." 
He  declares  that  the  two  places  of  Puisne  Judge  and 
Chie/  Justice  of  the  Common  Pleas  were  conferred  upon 
him  when  he. was  far  from  the  thoughts  of  the  one  and 
from  the  ambition  of  the  other.  He  asserts  that  while 
he  was  Speaker  he  served  the  House  with  candor,  never 
doing  ill  office  to  any.  He  excuses  his  refusal  to  put  the 
question  from  the  chair  by  the  King's  express  command, 
and  desires  each  of  his  hearers  to  consider  how  he  would 
have  comported  himself  between  the  displeasure  of  a 
gracious  master  and  the  ill  opinion  of  this  honorable 
assembly.  He  then  goes  to  ship-money,  on  which  he 
makes  a  still  lamer  excuse,  asserting  that  it  was  a  mere 
accidental  coincidence  that  he  was  made  Lord  Chief 
Justice  four  days  before  the  writs  issued:  that  the  Lord 
Keeper  Coventry  had  made  an  improper  use  of  the  extra- 
judicial  opinion  upon  the  legality  of  the  tax  which  the 
King  had  required  to  be  kept  secret;  that  he  never  used 
the  least  promise  of  preferment  or  reward  to  any  of  them  ; 
that  his  judgment  in  Mr.  Hampden's  case  might  be  erro- 
neous, but  was  conscientious;  and  that  he  had  always 
maintained  that  ship-money  could  only  be  lawfully  levied 
when  the  kingdom  was  in  danger, — suppressing  his  doc- 
trine that  the  King  was  the  sole  judge  of  the  danger.  He 
last  of  all  justified  himself  from  the  charge  of  violating 
the  Charta  de  Forcsta  by  enlarging  the  boundaries  of  the 
royal  forests,  and  concluded  by  submitting  all  that  he  had 
done  to  the  goodness  and  justice  of  the  House, 
m. — 17 


258  CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    I.       [1640. 

As  soon  as  he  concluded  he  withdrew  to  the  Upper 
House  that  had  been  waiting  for  his  return.  Rigby's 
speech  was  short  and  pithy : — 

"  What  then,  Mr.  Speaker,  is  to  be  done  ?     You  have 
been  told,  and  we  all  know  it, — Ense  rccidcndum  cst,  the 
sword   of  justice  must  strike,  ne  pars   sincera   trahatur. 
Not  the  tongue,  but  the  heart  and  actions  are  to  be  re- 
garded :   for  doth  not  our  Saviour  say  it, — Show  me  thy 
faith  by  thy  works,  O  man  ?     Now,  Mr.  Speaker,  hath  not 
this  kingdom   seen — seen,  said   I, — nay  felt  and  smarted 
under  the  cruelty  of  this  man's  justice  ? — so  malicious  as  to 
record  it  in  every  Court  of  Westminster,  as  if  he  had  not 
been  contented  with  the  enslaving  of  us  all  unless  he  en- 
tailed our  bondage  to  all  posterity.      Why  should  I  be- 
lieve words  now  cum  factum  videam  f      Shall  we  be  so 
weak  men  as  when  we  have  been  injured  and  abused,  to 
be  gained  again  with  fair  words  and  compliments  ?  or, 
like  little  children,  when  we  have  been  whipt  and  beaten, 
be  pleased  again  with  sweetmeats?  Oh,  no !  There  be  some 
birds  that  in  the  summer  of  parliament  will  sing  sweetly, 
who  in  the  winter  of  persecution  will,  for  their  prey,  raven- 
ously  fly  at    our  goods — nay,   seize    upon    our    persons. 
It  is  objected  that  in  judgment  we  should  think  of  mercy 
and  Be  ye  merciful  as  your  Heavenly  Father  is  merciful, 
Now,  God  Almighty  grant  that  we  may  be  so,  and  that 
our  hearts  may  be  rectified  to  know  truly  what  is  mercy; 
for  there  is  the   point,   Mr.  Speaker.     I   have    heard   of 
crudelis  misericordia  ;  and   I  am    sure  the  spirit  of  God 
saith,  Be  not  pitiful  in  judgment,   nay,  it   saith,   Be  not 
pitiful  of  the  poor  in  judgment.      If  not  of  the/w?r,  then, 
a  latiori,  not  of  the  rich  ;  there's  the  emphasis.     We  see 
by  the  set  and  solemn  appointments  of  our  Courts,  what 
provision  the  wisdom  of  our  ancestors  hath  made  for  the 
preservation,  honor,  and  esteem  of  justice.     Witness  our 
frequent   terms,  sessions,  and  assizes ;  and  in  what  pomp 
and   state  the  Judges  in  their  circuits,   by  the    sheriffs, 
knights,  and  justices,  and  all  the  country,  are  attended,— 
ofttimes  for  the  hanging  of  a  poor  thief  for  the  stealing 
of  a  hog  or  a  sheep — nay,  in  some  cases,  for  the  stealing 
of  a  penny.     And  now  shall  not  some  of  them  be  hanged 
that  have  robbed  us  of  all  our  property,  and  would  have 
made  us  all  indeed  poor  Belisariuses — to  have  begged  for 
halfpence  when  they  would  not  have  left  us  one  penny 


1640.]  SIR    JOHN    FINCH.  259 

that  we  could  have  called  our  own?  Let  us  therefore  set 
the  deplorable  state  of  Great  Britain  before  our  eyes,  and 
consider  how  our  most  gracious  Sovereign  has  been 
abused,  and  both  his  Majesty  and  all  his  subjects  injured 
by  these  wicked  instruments,  and  let  us  not  be  so  merci- 
ful to  them  that  are  become  merciless  to  the  whole  king- 
dom. Fiat  justitia" 

The  question  was  then  put,  "  that  John,  Lord  Finch, 
Baron  of  Fordwich,  Lord  Keeper  of  the  Great  Seal  of 
England,  shall  be  accused  by  this  House  of  high  treason 
and  other  misdemeanors,  in  the  name  of  this  House  and 
all  the  Commons  of  England,  and  that  the  Lords  be  de- 
sired to  sequester  him  from  parliament,  and  that  he  be 
committed." 

This  was  received  with  such  loud  and  general  cheers 
that  there  was  no  longer  the  slightest  hope  of  effectually 
resisting  it,  and  the  only  object  of  Finch's  friends  was  to 
keep  up  the  debate  till  past  mid-day  when  the  Lords 
would  have  adjourned, — so  that  the  impeachment  could 
not  be  carried  up  till  the  following  day,  and  that  instead 
of  being  at  once  transferred  from  his  place  in  Parliament 
to  the  Tower,  as  Strafford  and  Laud  had  been,  he  might 
in  the  meanwhile  consult  his  safety  by  flight.  They  there- 
fore, without  venturing  directly  to  combat  the  motion, 
wasted  the  time  by  raising  disputes  about  order,  and 
delayed  the  putting  of  the  question  by  frequent  interrup- 
tions, then  "  a  common  artifice," J  till  it  was  twelve 
o'clock,  and  they  knew  that  the  House  of  Peers  was  risen 
for  the  day.  The  Lord  Keeper,  aware  of  what  was  going 
on  in  the  Commons,  hurried  the'  adjournment,  bade  a 
final  adieu  to  the  woolsack,  and  had  taken  his  departure 
precipitately  without  venturing  to  cast  a  lingering  look 
behind. 

When  it  was  ascertained  that  Finch  was  safe,  the  ques- 
tion was  allowed  to  be  put,  and  it  was  carried  in  the 
affirmative  ;  a  few  voices  feebly  saying  No.  The  Lord 
Falkland  was  appointed  to  carry  up  the  accusation  to  the 
House  of  Peers. 

Finch  concealed  himselt  till  it  was  dark.  He  then 
privately  sent  the  Great  Seal  to  the  King ;  and,  embark- 
ing in  a  galliot  which  had  been  suddenly  hired  for  him, 
made  sail  for  Holland. 

1  See  4  St.  Tr.  22. 


260          CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    I.         [1641. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Lords  next  morning,  it  was 
known  that  the  Lord  Keeper  had  absconded  ;  and  Little- 
ton, Chief  Justice  of  the  Common  Pleas,  under  a  commis- 
sion from  the  King,  was  placed  on  the  woolsack  as 
Speaker.  Lord  Falkland  immediately  appeared  at  the 
bar  to  prefer  the  impeachment.  Having  read  the  articles, 
he  said : 

"  Nil  refert  tales  versus  qua  voce  legantur. 

"The  charge  was  such  as  required  no  assistance  from  the 
bringer  ;  when  voted,  having  been  attended  with  all  pos- 
sible evidence,  and  all  possible  aggravation,  that  addition 
only  excepted  which  my  Lord  Finch  alone  could  make, 
and  had  made,  by  his  confession,  signified  in  his  flight." 

The  Lords  sent  back  a  message  to  the  Commons,  that 
they  had  taken  into  consideration  the  charges  against 
John,  Lord  Finch,  late  Keeper  of  the  Great  Seal  ;  but 
having  received  intimation  that  he  was  not  to  be  found, 
they  had  ordered  him  into  safe  custody  as  soon  as  he 
could  be  discovered. 

It  was  generally  suspected  that  his  escape  had  been 
connived  at  by  the  popular  leaders;  but  there  seems  to 
have  been  a  large  majority  in  the  House  of  Commons  who 
wished  to  bring  him  to  the  block. 

The  noble  and  learned  fugitive  arrived  safely  in  Hol- 
land ;  and  on  the  3rd  of  January,  1641,  wrote  the  follow- 
ing letter  to  Lord  Pembroke,  to  be  laid  before  the  two 
Houses : 

"  My  most  well-beloved  Lord,  the  interest  your  Lord- 
ship hath  ever  had  in  the  best  of  my  fortunes  and  affec- 
tions, gives  me  the  privilege  of  troubling  your  Lordship 
with  these  few  lines,  from  one  who  hath  now  nothing  left 
to  serve  you  withal  but  his  prayers.  These  your  Lord- 
ship shall'  never  want,  with  an  heart  as  full  of  true  affec- 
tion to  your  Lordship  as  ever  any  was.  My  Lord,  it  was 
not  the  loss  of  my  place,  and  with  that  of  my  fortunes, 
nor  being  exiled  from  my  dear  country  and  friends,  though 
many  of  them  were  cause  of  sorrow,  that  afflicts  ;  but  that 
which  I  most  suffer  under  is,  that  displeasure  of  the  House 
of  Commons  conceived  against  me.  I  know  how  true  a 
heart  I  have  ever  borne  towards  them,  and  your  Lordship 
can  witness,  in  part,  what  ways  I  have  gone  in ;  but 
silqnce  and  patience  best  become  me.  With  these  I  must 
leave  mvself  and  my  actions  to  the  favorable  construction 


1660.]  SIR    JOHN    FINCH.  261 

of  my  noble  friends ;  in  which  number  your  Lordship  hath 
a  prime  place.  I  am  now  at  the  Hague,  where  I  arrived 
on  Thursday,  the  last  day  of  last  month,  where  I  purpose 
to  live  in  a  fashion  agreeable  to  the  poorness  of  my  for- 
tunes. As  for  any  views  in  this  world,  I  have  utterly  cast 
off  the  thoughts  of  them  ;  and  my  aim  shall  be  so  to  learn 
to  number  my  days,  that  I  may  apply  my  heart  unto  ^visdom1 
— that  wisdom,  that  shall  wipe  all  tears  from  mine  eyes 
and  heart,  and  lead  me  by  the  hand  to  true  happiness, 
which  can  never  be  taken  from  me.  I  pray  the  God  of 
Heaven  to  bless  this  parliament  with  both  a  happy  pro- 
gress and  conclusion ;  and  if  my  ruin  can  induce  but  the 
least  to  it,  I  shall  not  repine.  I  truly  pray  for  your  Lord- 
ship and  your  noble  family,  that  God  would  give  an  in- 
crease of  all  worldly  blessings,  and  in  the  fullness  of  days 
to  receive  you  to  his  glory.  If  I  were  capable  of  serving 
any  body,  I  would  tell  your  Lordship,  that  no  man  should 
be  readier  to  make  known  his  devotion  and  true  gratitude 
to  yoyr  Lordship,  than  your  Lordship's  most  humble  and 
affectionate  poor  kinsman  and  servant,  "  FINCH." 

He  remained  in  exile  about  eight  years,  in  great  penury 
and  misery.  Even  the  royalists  who,  from  time  to  time, 
escaped  beyond  seas  to  avoid  the  tyranny  of  the  parlia- 
ment, generally  shunned  him,  although  they  could  not 
avoid  sometimes  coming  in  contact  with  him  at  hotels  and 
boarding  houses.1  At  last,  by  making  an  abject  sub- 
mission to  Cromwell,  and  agreeing  to  pay  a  sum  of  money 
as  a  delinquent,  he  was  allowed  to  return  ;  and  he  lived 
in  retirement  till  the  Restoration. 

He  was  then  most  indecently  put  into  the  commission 
for  the  trial  of  the  Regicides, — which  calls  forth  this  in- 
dignant complaint  fromLudlow:  "  Finch,  who  had  been 
accused  of  high  treason  twenty  years  before,  by  a  full  par- 
liament, and  who,  by  flying  from  their  justice,  saved  his 
life,  was  appointed  to  judge  some  of  those  who  should 
have  been  his  his  judges." 

He  is  only  reported  to  have  spoken  once  during  the 
trials.  This  was  upon  the  observation  of  General  Har- 
rison, "Whereas,  it  has  been  said,  we  did  assume  and 

1  "  Arrived  at  the  Hague,  I  find  my  Lord  Finch,  not  long  before  fled  out  of 
England  from  the  fury  of  the  Parliament."  "  I  lodged  at  Brown's.  There 
was  in  pension  with  us  my  Lord  Finch." — Evelyn's  Private  Correspondence. 

*  Mem.  365. 


262          CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    I.        [1640. 

usurp  an  authority ;  I  say  this  was  done  rather  in  the  fear 
of  the  Lord." 

Lord  Finch.—11  Though  my  Lords  here  have  been 
pleased  to  give  you  a  great  latitude,  this  must  not  be 
suffered  that  you  should  run  into  these  damnable  ex- 
cursions, to  make  God  the  author  of  this  damnable  treason 
committed  by  you." ' 

He  died  soon  after,  universally  despised  by  cavaliers  as 
well' as  republicans, — by  high  churchmen  as  much  as  by 
puritans.  Leaving  no  issue,  this  branch  of  the  family  of 
Finch  became  extinct ;  and  with  it  the  barony  of  Finch 
of  Fordwich. 

We  must  rejoice  that  he  escaped  the  scaffold,  of  which 
he  was  in  such  danger ;  but  we  can  not  regret  the  subse- 
quent misfortunes  which  befel  him.  Nothing  can  be  con- 
ceived more  subversive  of  public  virtue,  than  the  con- 
tinued prosperity  of  an  unprincipled  judge  and  reckless 
politician,  who  has  notoriously  advanced  himself  by  his 
profligacy,  and  set  at  naught  all  regard  to  consistency  and 
decency. 


CHAPTER  LXV. 

LIFE   OF   LORD  KEEPER  LITTLETON  FROM  HIS   BIRTH  TILL 
THE   COMMENCEMENT  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

THE  Great  Seal  remained    for  some  time  with  the 
King  after  the  night  of  the  2ist  of  December,  when 
he  so  unexpectedly  received  it  from  Lord  Finch, 
about  to  fly  for  his  life. 

In  such  an  extraordinary  emergency  there  was  much 
difficulty  in  the  appointment  of  a  successor.  Banks,  the 
Attorney  General,  had  been  actively  engaged  in  all  the 
unconstitutional  and  cruel  government  prosecutions  which 
had  taken  place  during  the  suspension  of  parliament  ; 
and  Herbert,  the  Solicitor  General,  though  recently  ap- 
pointed, had  rendered  himself  almost  equally  obnoxious 
to  the  popular  party,  by  the  blind  zeal  he  had  displayed 
in  support  of  the  arbitrary  principles  on  which  the  gov- 
ernment had  been  conducted.  The  promotion  of  either 
1  5  St.  Tr.  1025. 


1641.]  LORD     LITTLETON.  263 

of  them  would  therefore  have  been  considered  a  direct 
insult  to  the  House  of  Commons,  and  an  acknowledgment 
by  the  King  that  all  his  professions  of  amendment  were 
insincere.  There  was  a  disposition  to  offer  office  to  some 
of  the  lawyers  on  the  other  side,1  but  none  of  them  could 
be  prudently  trusted  to  preside  in  the  House  of  Lords, 
particularly  when  it  was  considered  that  the  impeach- 
ments against  Strafford  and  Laud  would  soon  be  coming 
on  to  be  heard.  Strafford,  now  in  the  Tower,  still  kept 
up  a  private  intercourse  with  his  royal  Master, — and  it  is 
said  to  have  been  by  his  recommendation  that,  on  the 
29th  of  January,  1641,  the  Great  Seal  was  delivered  to 
Sir  EDWARD  LITTLETON,  Chief  Justice  of  the  Common 
Pleas,  as  Lord  Keeper. 

Although  the  appointment  did  not  turn  out  felicitously, 
either  for  him  who  suggested  it  or  for  the  public, — ap- 
parently a  better  choice  could  not  have  been  made,  as 
Littleton  was  a  very  profound  lawyer,  and  a  man  of  ex- 
cellent private  character.  Although  he  had  changed 
sideg  in  politics, — considering  the  times,  he  was  to  be 
praised  for  his  moderation, — for  he  had  not  violently  per- 
secuted his  ancient  opinions  or  his  ancient  friends.  With 
more  moral  courage  and  energy  he  might  have  gained  for 
himself  a  high  reputation,  and  prevented  the  coming  col- 
lision ;  but,  entertaining  the  best  intentions,  he  sadly  dis- 
appointed the  expectations  of  his  friends,  and  he  pursued 
a  vacillating  course,  which  ended  in  his  own  disgrace,  and 
aggravated  the  calamities  of  his  country. 

Edward  Littleton,  the  subject  of  this  memoir,  was  of 
an  ancient  family  of  the  robe,  being  lineally  descended  in 
the  male  line  from  the  great  Littleton,  author  of  "  The 
Tenures,"  and  Judge  of  the  Common  Pleas  in  the  reign 
of  Edward  IV.  This  legal  patriarch  left  three  sons,  the 
eldest  of  whom  is  the  ancestor  of  Lord  Lyttleton,  and 
the  second  of  Lord  Hatherton.  From  the  third  was  de- 
scended the  Lord  Keeper,  who  was  born  at  Mounslow,  in 
Shropshire,  in  the  year  1589,  being  the  eldest  son  of  Sir 
Edward  Littleton,  of  Hewley,  in  the  same'  county,  like- 
wise of  the  profession  of  the  law,  having  been  one  of  the 
Justices  of  the  Marches,  and  a  Judge  of  North  Wales. 
Young  Edward  Littleton  was  educated  at  a  provincial 

1  Oliver  St.  John,  long  in  "the  sedition  line,"  was  soon  after  made  Solici- 
tor General. 


264          CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    I.        [1628, 

grammar  school  till  he  was  sent  to  Oxford,  and  entered 
a  gentleman  commoner  at  Christ  Church.  Here  he  applied 
very  diligently  to  study,  and  in  1609  he  took  the  degree 
of  Bachelor  of  Arts,  having  gained  great  applause  for  his 
proficiency  in  logic  and  in  classical  learning.  He  continued 
a  very  diligent  student  during  the  remainder  of  his  life. 

Being  removed  to  the  Inner  Temple,  he  devoted  him- 
self to  the  Year  Books  and  antiquarian  lore.  He  was  a 
bosom  friend  of  Selden,  and  for  some  years  they  carried 
on  their  studies  in  common,  often  going  together  to  the 
Tower  of  London,  there  to  regale  themselves  with  a  smell 
of  ancient  parchment.1  He  continued  at  the  same  time 
to  keep  up  an  acquaintance  with  more  elegant  pursuits. 
He  was  a  famous  swordsman,  and  he  showed  in  his  youth 
a  taste  for  the  military  art,  which  afterwards  broke  out 
in  maturer  years,  and  placed  him  at  the  head  of  a  regiment, 
— with  the  Great  Seal  in  one  hand,  and  a  pike  in  the  other. 
But  he  was  determined  to  rise  by  his  profession,  and  when 
he  was  called  to  the  bar  he  was  reckoned  the  best  grounded 
common  lawyer  which  his  Society  had  sent  forth  for  many 
years.  He  soon  rose  into  very  extensive  practice. 

In  1626  he  was  returned  a  member  of  the  Hou  >e  of 
Commons,  and  eagerly  joined  the  patriotic  party  then 
struggling  against  the  ascendancy  of  the  Duke  of  Buck- 
ingham, and  he  took  an  active  part  in  supporting  the  im- 
peachment carried  on  against  that  powerful  favorite.* 

He  again  sat  in  Charles's  third  parliament,  called  in  1628, 
and  fought  zealously  for  the  cause  of  liberty  under  the 
auspices  of  Sir  E.  Coke.  He  was  much  noticed  by  the 
venerable  patriot,  and  through  his  influence  was  chosen 
chairman  of  the  Committee  which  examined  into  griev- 
ances since  the  preceding  dissolution,  and  prepared  the 
"  Petition  of  Right."  He  moved  four  resolutions,  which 
were  unanimously  agreed  to  by  the  House:  1st,  "That 
no  freeman  ought  to  be  committed  or  detained  in  prison, 
or  otherwise  restrained  by  command  of  the  King  or  the 
Privy  Council,  unless  some  cause  of  the  commitment,  de- 
tainer, or  restraint  be  expressed,  for  which  by  law  he 
ought  to  be  committed,  detained  or  restrained." — 2ndly, 
"  That  the  writ  of  Habeas  Corpus  can  not  be  denied,  but 

"  Oh,  Tewkesbury,  the  smell 

Of  ancient  parchment  pleased  thee  well." — Pleader's  Guide, 
1  2  Parl.  Hist.  53. 


1628.]  LORD    LITTLETON.  265 

ought  to  be  granted  to  every  man  that  is  committed  or 
detained  in  prison,  or  otherwise  restrained  by  the  com- 
mand of  the  King,  the  Privy  Council,  or  any  other,  he 
praying  for  the  same." — 3rdly,  "That  if  a  freeman  be 
committed  or  detained  in  prison,  or  otherwise  restrained 
by  command  of  the  King,  Privy  Council,  or  any  other,  no 
cause  of  such  commitment  or  detainer  being  expressed, 
and  the  same  be  returned  upon  a  Habeas  Corpus  granted 
for  the  said  party,  that  then  he  ought  to  be  delivered  or 
bailed." — 4thly,  "That  the  ancient  and  undoubted  right 
of  every  freeman  is,  that  he  hath  a  full  and  absolute 
property  in  his  goods  and  estate,  and  that  no  tax,  tallage, 
loan,  benevolence,  or  other  like  charge,  ought  to  be  com- 
manded or  levied  by  the  King  or  his  ministers,  without 
common  assent  of  parliament." 

Afterwards,  at  a  conference  with  the  Lords,  who  were 
called  upon  to  concur  in  these  resolutions,  he  made  a 
very,  learned  and  admirable  speech,  showing  that  they 
were  founded  on  acts  of  parliament  and  precedents.  Sir 
E.  Coke  followed,  loudly  praising  his  young  friend,  and 
saying,  "Your  Lordships  have  heard  seven  acts  of  parlia- 
ment in  point,  and  thirty-one  precedents,  summarily  col- 
lected, and  with  great  understanding  delivered.  I  am 
transported  with  joy,  because  of  the  hope  of  good  success 
in  this  weighty  business." 

In  a  subsequent  stage  of  the  proceeding,  Heath,  the 
Attorney  General,  having  .attempted  to  prove  that  com- 
mitments by  the  King  himself  were  not  subject  to  the 
ordinary  rules  of  law,  and  stood  up  for  lettres  de  cachet, 
Littleton  made  a  furious  attack  upon  him,  and  success- 
fully demolished  his  authorities  and  arguments,  showing 
that  "  it  is  equal  whether  the  King  do  it  hinj^elf  or  by  the 
agency  of  others."1  He  had  a  no  less  triumphant  con- 
flict with  Secretary  Cooke,  who,  although  he  had  signed 
most  of  the  illegal  warrants  by  which  members  had  been 
sent  to  gaol  for  their  conduct  in  the  House,  now  found  it 
convenient  strongly  to  recommend  moderation.  "  We 
have  moderation  preached  to  us,"  said  Littleton,  "  and 
we  follow  it.  But  what  is  the  conduct  of  those  who 
preach  it  ?  Let  the  parties  have  their  doom  who  have 
violated  the  liberties  of  parliament."  "  When  the  "  Petition 
of  Right  "  passed  the  Commons,  he  had  the  honor  to  be 

1  2  Parl.  Hist.  256,  262,  295.     3  St.  Tr.  85.         2  2  Parl.  Hist.  441. 


266          CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    7.         [1628. 

appointed,  along  with  Sir  E.  Coke  and  Sir  Dudley  Digges, 
to  carry  it  up  to  the  Lords. 

The  flaming  patriot,  however,  could  not  resist  the 
tempting  offers  made  to  him  when  the  system  was  begun 
of  buying  off  opposition,  and  he  went  over  to  the  Court 
along  with  Noy,  Saville,  and  Wentworth.  But  it  must  be 
acknowledged  that  he  did  not  like  them  show  the  zeal 
of  a  political  convert  from  the  errors  of  opposition,  and 
he  continued  to  enjoy  the  good-will  and  to  cultivate  the 
society  of  his  early  friends.  His  first  preferment  was  a 
Welsh  Judgeship,  (in  after  times  so  perilous  to  patriotism), 
and  soon  after,  by  the  support  of  the  government,  he  was 
elected  Recorder  of  London. 

When  Lord  Keeper  he  must  have  looked  back  with 
much  regret  to  this  period  of  his  life.  He  still  continued 
to  practice  at  the  bar,  and  without  political  office  was 
easily  at  the  top  of  his  profession.  Noy,  the  Attorney 
General,  a  most  learned  man,  confined  himself  to  his 
official  duties,  and  was  day  and  night  among  the  musty 
records  from  which  he  was  inventing,  and  preparing  to 
justify  his  writ  of  ship-money.  The  Solicitor  was  one 
Shilton,  silly  and  ignorant — put  in  by  a  caprice  of  the  Duke 
of  Buckingham,  and  universally  despised.  Brampston, 
the  King's  Sergeant  was  lengthy  and  laborious,  but 
seldom  went  beyond  the  drowsy  atmosphere  of  the  Com- 
mon Pleas.  Littleton,  who  had  "  taken  /great  paint;  in 
the  hardest  and  most  knotty  part  of  the  law  as  well  as 
that  which  was  more  customary,  and  was  not  only  very 
ready  and  expert  in  the  books,  but  exceedingly  versed 
in  records,  so  that  he  was  looked  upon  as  the  best  an- 
tiquary of  the  profession,  and  upon  the  mere  strength  of 
his  own  abilities  had  early  raised  himself  into  the  first 
rank  of  the  practices  in  the  Common  Law  Courts,  now 
grew  into  the  highest  practice  in  all  the  other  Courts," 
and  he  was  eagerly  retained  in  every  cause  of  consequence 
depending  not  only  in  the  King's  Bench  and  Exchequer, 
but  in  Chancery,  in  the  Star  Chamber,  and  at  the  Council 
Table.  Though  subject  to  a  few  sarcasms  for  the  coun- 
tenance he  now  gave  to  the  unconstitutional  measures  of 
the  government,  and  the  altered  tone  of  his  conversation 
on  political  subjects — as  parliament  never  met,  he  did  not 
incur  any  public  obloquy,  aud  in  private  society  he  was 

1  Clarendon. 


1637.]  LORD    LITTLETON.  267 

much  sought  after,  not  only  by  flatterers,  whom  he  con- 
temned, but  by  the  numerous  class  of  agreeable  persons 
who  are  always  desirous  of  cultivating  the  acquaintance 
of  a  man  rising  into  great  professional  eminence. 

On  the  lamented  death  of  Noy  at  the  moment  when 
his  writs  of  ship-money  were  ready  to  be  launched, 
Banks,  a  brazen-faced  lawyer,  was  put  in  his  place,  but  he 
was  more  remarkable  for  boldness  than  for  skill  or  weight 
to  defend  the  measures  now  in  contemplation.  "When 
the  King  found  he  should  have  much  to  do  in  Westmin- 
ster Hall,  he  removed  an  old,  useless,  illiterate  person  who 
had  been  put  into  that  office  by  favor,  and  made  Little- 
ton Solicitor  General,  much  to  his  honor,  but  not  to  his 
profit,  the  obligation  of  attendance  upon  that  office  de- 
priving him  of  much  benefit  he  used  to  acquire  by  his 
practice."  '  A  more  unpleasant  consequence  must  have 
been  to  him,  who  was  always  defective  in  nerve  an^ 
energy,  that  he  was  now  obliged  to  appear  as  counsel  for 
the  Crown  in  all  public  prosecutions,  however  obnoxious 
they  might  be.  But  in  looking  through  the  state  trials  of 
this  period,  it  is  wonderful  to  see  how  he  contrived  to 
throw  the  odious  parts  upon  the  King's  Sergeant  and  the 
Attorney  General,  and  how  he  betook  himself  to  com- 
fortable obscurity.  In  the  prosecution  against  Bastwick, 
Burton,  -and  Prynne,  although  he  could  not  be  silent,  he 
confined  himself  when  he  followed  Sir  John  Banks  and 
Sergeant  Whitfield,  to  vindicating  the  memory  of  Noy, 
who  was  said  in  "  The  Divine  Tragedy,"  one  of  the  publi- 
cations included  in  the  information,  to  have  been  struck, 
as  a  judgment  from  Heaven,  with  a  mortal  disease  when 
scoffingly  looking  at  Prynne  having  his  ears  cut  off  in  the 
pillory  under  a  former  sentence.3 

At  last  came  Rex  v.  Hampden,  and  Littleton  was 
obliged  to  take  the  laboring  oar.  Ship-money  was  to  be 
proved  to  be  legal  by  precedents,  processes,  records,  and 

1  Clarendon. 

3  A  ludicrous  circumstance  happened  on  this  occasion,  which  shows  that, 
even  in  the  Star  Chamber,  in  cases  of  libel,  the  truth  of  the  charge  might  be 
inquired  into.  Littleton  undertook  to  prove  by  three  or.  four  gentlemen  of 
good  credit  and  rank,  that  Mr.  Noy  labored  long  before  under  the  infirmity 
of  which  he  died.  "  The  Solicitor  then  called  out  for  room  for  the  gentle- 
men to  come  in,  but  none  such  appeared." — 3  St.  Tr.  719.  So  late  as  Queen 
Anne's  time,  Lord  Holt,  in  Tuchin's  case,  called  upon  the  defendant  to  prove 
the  truth  of  his  charges,  and  the  judge-made  doctrine  that  "  the  greater  the 
truth  the  greater  the  libel,"  now  statutably  repealed,  was  of  later  origin. 


268          CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    I.        [1637; 

writings  of  different  aeras,  from  the  Heptarchy  downwards 
— which  were  to  upset  all  the  acts  of  parliament  which 
had  been  passed  to  forbid  taxation  without  authority  of 
parliament,  and  were  to  show  that  acts  of  parliament 
upon  such  a  subject  were  ultra  vires  and  void.  Noy 
being  gone,  it  was  felt  that  no  one  could  so  well  use  his 
materials  as  Mr.  Solicitor.  He  was  heard  before  all  the 
Judges  in  the  Exchequer  Chamber,  for  the  Crown,  three 
entire  days,  after  Oliver  St.  John  had  spoken  two  days 
for  the  defendant.  His  argument  is  certainly  very  learned 
and  ingenious,  and  much  more  modest,  or  rather  less  out- 
rageously offensive,  than  that  of  Chief  Justice  Finch  and 
several  of  the  Judges,  who  openly  avowed  the  principles 
of  pure  despotism,  insisting  that  the  prerogative  of  the 
Crown  was  essentially  absolute,  and  could  not  be  con- 
trolled by  legislative  enactments.  He  candidly  allowed 
th|it,  in  England,  subjects  have  a  property  in  their  goods  ; 
but  he  contended  that  the  law  of  property  must  give 
place  to  the  law  of  nature  for  the  common  defense,  and 
that  the  levying  of  a  debt  or  duty  upon  property,  so  far 
from  destroying,  doth  confirm  it.  "  Quicquid  necessitas 
cogit  defendit ;  the  law  of  the  time  must  regulate  the  law 
of  the  place.  A  chirurgeon  may  cut  off  one  member  to 
save  the  rest.  If  a  storm  arise  at  sea,  to  cast  out  goods 
is  lawful,  and  they  whose  goods  are  saved  shall  contribute 
to  the  loss.  A  man  may  pull  down  the  house  of  another 
when  the  next  house  to  it  is  on  fire.  Jam  tua  res  agitur 
paries  cum  proximus  ardet.  If  two  men  are  fighting,  a 
passer-by  may  part  them,  and  put  them  into  several 
chambers,  because  it  is  for  the  good  of  the  common- 
wealth. If  a  madman  be  abroad,  he  may  be  taken, 
whipped,  and  imprisoned,  lest  he  do  violence  to  himself 
or  others.  The  King  may  compel  all  to  defend  the 
realm,  and  he  may  vary  the  mode  of  contributing  to  the 
public  defense.  Judges  are  not  to  fight,  but  they  are  to 
be  knighted  j1  nay,  a  Sergeant  sworn  in  the  Common 
Pleas  is  compellable  ;  Rolfe,  a  stout  Sergeant,  pleaded 
that  he  was  of  the  degree  of  a  coif,  and  not  bound  to 
be  a  knight,  but  he  was  forced  to  it.  Imminent  perils  to 
a  state  dispensed  with  ordinary  proceedings  in  law  ;  inter 

1  One  judge  in  my  time  successfully  resisted  this  supposed  obligation,  by 
refusing  to  go  to  court  or  to  appear  in  the  King's  presence  after  his  appoint- 
ment. He  said  that  he  was  determined  to  die  "  John  Heath,  Esquire" 


1640.]  LORD    LITTLETON.  269 

arma  silent  leges.  Nay,  if  there  are  but  rumors  of  war, 
laws  are  silent."  He  then  undertakes  to  prove  his  general 
doctrines  by  going  through  English  History  from  the 
foundation  of  the  kingdom  to  the  Norman  Conquest — 
thence  to  Magna  Charta — to  the  statute  De  Tallagio  non 
concedendo — to  the  first  granting  of  tonnage  and  poundage 
— and,  finally,  to  the  Petition  of  Right,  "which  did  no 
ways  concern  the  dispute."  He  relied  mainly  on  Dane- 
gelt,  arguing,  that  "  if  usurpers  could  lay  this  tax  on  the 
people,  much  more  may  our  natural  born  King  do  the 
like — which  shows  it  to  be  an  undoubted  inalienable  right 
in  the  Crown  of  England.  Oh,  say  they,  but  this  may  be 
done  by  a  parliament.  By  a  may  be  a  man  may  answer 
any  argument.  Oh,  but  they  tell  us  that  Fortescue,  Chief 
Justice  of  the  King's  Bench,  to  show  the  law  of  England 
to  be  better  than  the  law  of  France,  saith,  that  nothing 
can  be  taken  from  an  Englishman  but  by  parliament,  he 
himself  consenting  thereto.  That,  my  Lords,  is  in  the 
ordinary  way.  Doth  he  say  that  no  man  without  parlia- 
ment may  contribute  to  defend  himself?  Ne  -verbum 
quidem!" — But  this  taste  of  the  reasoning  of  the  law 
officers  of  the  Crown  in  those  days  must  suffice. 

Although  he  acquired  considerable  reputation  on  this 
occasion,  he  became  more  and  more  dissatisfied  with  his 
position  and  with  the  aspect  of  public  affairs.  He  lamented 
the  inhuman  punishments  to  which  his  colleagues  in- 
stigated the  Star  Chamber,  and,  amidst  the  growing  dis- 
contents of  the  nation,  he  saw  distinctly  that  the  day  of 
retribution  was  at  hand. 

Finch  being  made  Lord  Keeper  on  the  death  of 
Coventry,  a  vacancy  occurred  in  the  office  of  Chief  Justice 
of  the  Common  Pleas,  to  which  Banks  had  the  best  right, 
this  being  called  "  the  Attorney  General's  cushion;"  but 
Mr.  Attorney  being  of  a  stouter  heart,  and  not  unwilling 
to  enjoy  a  little  longer  the  sweets  of  his  lucrative  place, 
waived  his  claim,  and  Littleton,  to  his  inexpressible  de- 
light, from  being  tossed  on  a  tempestuous  ocean,  found 
himself  at  once  in  the  delicious  harbor  for  which  he  had 
long  prayed,  and  which  he  had  hardly  hoped  ever  to  reach. 
"  He  was  made  Chief  Justice  of  the  Common  Pleas,  then 
the  best  office  6T  the  law,  and  that  which  he  was  wont  to 
say  in  his  highest  ambition  in  his  own  private  wishes,  he 
had  most  desired ;  and  it  was  indeed  the  sphere  in  which 


270  CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    I.       [1640. 

he  moved  most  gracefully  and  with  most  advantage,  being 
a  master  of  all  that  learning  and  knowledge  which  that 
place  required,  and  an  excellent  Judge,  of  great  gravity, 
and  above  all  suspicion  of  corruption." 

He  was  soon  after  made  a  Privy  Councillor,  against  the 
wishes  of  Lord  Keeper  Finch,  who  was  desirous  of  pre- 
venting other  lawyers  from  entering  into  any  rivalship  with 
himself.  The  succeeding  twelve  months  must  have  been 
a  very  agreeable  portion  of  his  existence,  from  his  con- 
sidering not  only  what  he  actually  enjoyed,  but  that 
from  which  he  had  escaped,  and  to  which  he  saw  others 
exposed.  While  he  was  securely  reaping  the  public  ap- 
plause in  a  high  office,  the  duties  of  which  he  felt  that  he 
thoroughly  understood  and  could  satisfactorily  perform, 
he  must  have  thought  to  himself  what  he  must  have 
suffered  buffeting  in  the  House  of  Commons, — vainly  at- 
tempting to  palliate  the  enormities  of  the  government, 
which  he  had  secretly  lamented  and  condemned.  When 
the  fatal  step  was  taken  of  abruptly  dissolving  the  parlia- 
ment, if  still  a  law  officer  of  the  Crown,  he  would  have 
been  required  to  give  an  opinion  that  the  Convocation 
might  sit  on,  vote  supplies,  and  make  canons  binding  on 
the  laity, — he  would  have  been  called  upon  to  sanction 
modes  of  filling  the  Exchequer  if  possible  more  illegal 
than  ship-money, — and  he  would  have  seen  the  dire  ne- 
cessity of  being  soon  exposed  to  another  parliament  in 
which  the  misgovernment  of  twelve  years  was  inevitably 
to  be  examined  and  punished. 

When  the  Long  Parliament  met,  he  little  thought  that 
his  further  elevation  and  his  troubles  were  approaching ; 
and  he  still  hoped  that  he  might  long  repose  on  his 
"  cushion  "  in  the  Common  Pleas.  In  the  morning  after 
Finch's  flight,  he  suddenly  found  himself  on  the  woolsack, 
as  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Lords.  Still  he  trusted  that 
this  appointment  was  only  temporary,  till  the  Great  Seal 
should  be  delivered  to  another  Lord  Keeper. 

But  he  discovered  in  a  little  time  that  the  King,  by  the 
secret  advice  of  Strafford  and  Laud,  wished  that  he  should 
become  Lord  Keeper.  Sincerely  declining  the  elevation, 
he  was  gently  reminded  of  his  obligations  to  the  King, 
and  strongly  assured,  that  he  might  not*  only  be  instru- 
mental in  saving  his  old  friends  and  patrons  about  to  be 

1  Clarendon.  • 


1641.]  LORD     LITTLETON.  271 

tried  for  high  treason  in  the  House  of  Lords,  but  that  he 
might  be  the  means  of  bringing  about  a  happy  settlement 
of  all  the  existing  differences,  and  of  saving  the  state. 
Conscious  of  his  own  mental  infirmities,  and  foreseeing 
the  perplexities  in  which  they  might  involve  himself  and 
others,  he  long  resisted;  but  Hilary  term  approaching, 
there  being  an  absolute  necessity  that  the  vacancy  should 
be  filled  up  for  the  ordinary  administration  of  justice,  and 
the  King's  importunity  continuing,  he  yielded,  and  took 
the  step  which  he  for  ever  repented  ; — for  he  had  not 
another  day  of  peace  of  mind,  and  he  experienced 
nothing  but  doubt,  anxiety,  mortification,  and  self-re- 
proach, till  his  eyes  were  closed  in  death. 

He  received  the  Great  Seal,  as  Lord  Keeper,  at  White- 
hall,, on  the  I9th  of  January,  1641  ;  and  two  days  after,  on 
the  first  day  of  Hilary  term,  he  took  his  place  in  the 
Court  of  Chancery  in  the  presence  of  the  Lord  Treasurer, 
the  Earl  Marshal,  the  Marquis  of  Hamilton,  the  Earl  of 
Pembroke,  and  many  others  of  the  nobility.1  On  the 
1 8th  of  February  following,  he  was  raised  to  the  Peerage 
by  the  title  of  Lord  Littleton,  of  Mounslow, — this  pro- 
motion likewise  being  said  to  have  been  suggested  by 
Lord  Straffbrd,  who  thought  he  might  be  more  useful  if 
permitted  to  take  part  in  the  proceedings  of  the  House 
as  a  Peer  than  if  he  could  only  put  the  question  as 
Speaker, — a  plan  destined  to  end  in  disappointment  and 
discomfiture. 

The  first  business  which  came  before  the  House  of 
Lords  after  the  new  Lord  Keeper's  elevation,  was  the 
"  Triennial  Bill,"  by  which,  if  there  was  any  intermission 
of  parliaments  for  three  years,  the  Peers  were  to  meet 
and  issue  writs,  in  the  King's  name,  for  the  holding  of  a 
parliament ;  and  in  case  of  default  by  the  Peers,  the  re- 
turning officers  were  to  elect  representatives  to  the  House 
of  Commons  ;  and  in  case  of  their  default,  the  constituents 
were  to  meet  and  choose  representatives  of  their  own 
authority,  so  that  this  law  might  not  be  evaded — as  that 
had  been  which  required  "that  parliaments  should  beheld 
yearly,  and  oftener,  if  need  be"  The  passing  of  this  act 
caused  ringing  of  bells  and  bonfires  all  over  England ; 
and  the  Lord  Keeper,  by  the  direction  of  both  Houses, 
returned  thanks  to  his  Majesty  for  giving  his  assent  to  it; 

1  Crown  Off.  Min.  Book,  fol.  5. 


272  CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    I.       [1641. 

saying,  that  it  would  be  of  singular  security  for  the  pres- 
ent, of  infinite  honor  to  his  Majesty's  royal  crown  and 
dignity,  and  of  great  comfort  to  posterity.'  He  then 
took  an  oath  before  the  Lords  spiritual  and  temporal, 
that  while  he  held  the  Great  Seal,  he  would  duly  issue 
writs  for  the  summoning  of  parliaments  as  the  act  directs.2 

We  now  come  to  a  passage  in  his  life  which  justly  sub- 
jects him  to  the  charge  of  the  basest  pusillanimity. 
Treachery  even  was  imputed  to  him  ;  but  I  think  his  con- 
duct is  to  be  explained  by  a  lamentable  deficiency  of 
moral  courage,  not  of  principle.  He  had  been  recently 
raised  to  the  Peerage  in  the  belief  that  he  might  be  of 
essential  service  by  presiding  as  a  member  of  the  House  of 
Lords,  at  the  important  trial  about  to  take  place,  on 
which  the  life  of  Stratford,  and  the  fate  of  the  monarchy, 
were  supposed  to  depend.  According  to  Clarendon, — 
when  he  had  been  made  Lord  Keeper,  he  was  a  little 
mortified  in  not  at  once  having  a  Peerage,  and  he  him- 
self expressly  pointed  out  to  the  King  the  important 
services  he  should  be  able  to  render  to  the  royal  cause  if 
that  dignity  were  conferred  upon  him. 

On  the  day  when  Strafford  was  to  .be  arraigned,  the 
King  unexpectedly  came  to  the  House  of  Lords,  and 
seating  himself  on  the  throne  without  his  robes,  merely 
said  that  he  wished  to  hear  the  nature  of  the  charges. 
The  ceremony  having  been  once  gone  through,  he  with- 
drew, and  several  Peers  testified  high  resentment  at  this 
intrusion,  insisting  that  it  was  an  attempt  to  intimidate, 
and  that  all  that  had  taken  place  while  the  King  was  pre- 
sent was  to  be  considered  coram  nonjudice,  and  void. 

Now  it  was  expected  that  "  Baron  Littleton  of  Mouns- 
low"  would  have  stood  up  for  the  King,  and  he  certainly 
might  have  urged  that  both  on  principle  and  precedent, 
Charles  in  this  instance  had  done  nothing  irregular,  for" 
the  King  is  always  supposed  to  be  present  in  parliament, 
and  in  former  times  was  actually  on  the  throne,  not  only 
at  the  opening  and  conclusion  of  the  session,  but 
almost  constantly  while  any  business  was  going  on. 
Although  it  belonged  to  the  Peers  to  regulate  the  con- 
duct of  this  impeachment,  and  to  decide  by  a  majority 
of  the  votes  upon  the  guilt  or  innocence  of  the  accused, 
the  King,  without  interfering  with  the  proceeding,  was 

1  2  Parl.  Hist.  718.  *  Crown  Off.  Min.  Book,  fol.  5. 


1641.]  LORD    LITTLETON.  273 

entitled  to  be  present  at  it,  and  might  at  any  moment 
have  put  a  stop  to  it  by  a  dissolution.  But  the  Lord 
Keeper  was  so  frightened  by  this  sudden  storm,  that  he 
had  not  a  word  to  say  even  by  way  of  apology  for  the 
King,  and  a  motion  being  carried  without  opposition, 
that  the  Earl  of  Strafford  be  again  called  to  the  bar,  that 
the  articles  of  impeachment  might  be  read  to  him  and  his 
plea  taken  de  novo  ; — without  leaving  the  woolsack  he  a 
second  time  went  through  the  ceremony  of  the  arraign- 
ment.1 

Some  thought  that  the  Lord  Keeper  would  make 
amends  when  the  trial  actually  came  on;  but  the  day 
before  that  fixed  for  its  commencement,  he  sent  a  message 
to  the  House  of  Lords,  intimating  that  he  was  taken  so 
ill  that  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  attend,  and  besides 
that  he  had  some  doubts  whether  the  objection  of  the 
Commons  was  not  well  founded,  that  no  Peers  created 
since  "the  impeachment  was  voted  ought  to  sit  on  the  trial, 
as  the  impeachment  was  in  the  name  of  all  the  Commons 
of  England,  and  therefore  such  Peers  being  prosecutors 
were  disqualified  as  Judges.* 

This  was  justly  considered  a  material  advantage  gained 
for  the  impeachment.  The  Earl  of  Arundel,  the  Earl 
Marshal,  an  enemy  of  Strafford,  was  elected  by  the  House 
to  sit  Speaker  in  the  absence  of  the  Lord  Keeper. 

The  truth  was,  that  when  Littleton  heard  of  the  pre- 
parations in  Westminster  Hall  for  this  great  solemnity, — 
the  court  for  the  Peers,  the  closet  for  the  King  and  royal 
family,  the  galleries  for  the  House  of  Commons,  the  seats 
for  the  Scottish  Commissioners  and  the  deputation  from 
the  Irish  parliament,  and,  above  all,  the  crowds  that  were 
to  assemble,  and  the  cries  for  vengeance  that  had  already 
been  uttered  in  the  streets, — his  heart  entirely  failed  him, 
and  a  real  illness  afterwards  came  on,  which  confined  him 
for  some  weeks  to  his  bed. 

Before  he  would  acknowledge  that  he  had  recovered, 
Strafford,  by  an  unparalleled  display  of  constancy  and 
talent, — without  professional  assistance, — and  three  na- 

1  2  Parl.  Hist.  742. 

2  In  point  of  law  there  is  no  foundation  for  this  objection.     The  creation 
of  peers  to  influence  a  pending  impeachment  would  be  highly  unconstitu- 
tional, and  would  subject  those  who  advised  such  a  step  to  severe  punish- 
ment ;  but  peers,  when  created,  have  all  the  rights  and  privileges  of  the 
peerage,  and  no  exception  can  be  taken  to  the  competency  of  any  peer. 

in. — 18 


274  CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    7.        [1641. 

tions  marshaled  against  him, — had  defeated  the  proceed- 
ing by  impeachment ;  a  bill  of  attainder  had  been  brought 
in  to  put  him  to  death  without  the  forms  of  justice  ;  the 
Judges,  yielding  to  popular,  as  they  formerly  did  to  royal 
intimidation,  had  iniquitously  pronounced  that  the 
charges  against  him  amounted  in  point  of  law  to  high 
treason ;  amidst  the  apprehension  of  new  plots  against 
the  nation,  .the  bill  had  rapidly  passed  both  Houses  ;  the 
King's  scruples  had  been  overcome  by  the  solicitations 
of  the  Queen  and  the  sophistry  of  the  Bishops  ;  and  the 
noble  victim,  after  exclaiming,  "  Put  not  your  trust  in 
princes,"  had  met  his  fate  with  such  courage  and  com- 
posure as  to  enlist  all  sympathy  in  his  favor,  and  to  make 
his  name  respected  by  posterity,  although,  having  been 
once  the  champion  of  public  rights,  he  had  long  system- 
atically labored  to  subvert  the  liberties  of  his  country. 

After  Strafford's  execution,  Littleton  resumed  his  place 
on  the  woolsack;  but  he  offered  no  resistance  to  any  of 
the  bills  which  came  up  from  the  Commons.  He  was  well 
justified  in  agreeing  to  those  for  abolishing  the  High 
Commission  Court  and  the  Star  Chamber.  He  proposed 
an  amendment  to  that  for  preventing  a  dissolution  with- 
out the  consent  of  the  two  Houses, — that  it  should  be  in 
force  only  for  three  years, — by  the  end  of  which  time  it 
might  be  expected  that  the  reformation  of  the  state 
would  be  completed  ; — but  this  being  objected  to  by  the 
Commons,  he  withdrew  it,  and  Charles  was  virtually  de- 
throned. 

At  last  there  was  some  respite  from  these  troubles,  the 
two  Houses  having  adjourned  while  the  King  went  on  a 
visit  to  Scotland,  and  Littleton  was  allowed  to  enjoy  re- 
pose at  his  villa  at  Cranford. 

Meanwhile  the  Irish  rebellion  broke  out ;  the  alarm  of 
a  counter-revolution  by  a  Roman  Catholic  force  was  uni- 
versally spread,  and  parliament  again  meeting,  measures 
were  proposed  by  the  popular  leaders  inconsistent  with 
monarchical  government.  None  of  these  had  the  Lord 
Keeper  the  spirit  to  resist.  His  excuse  was,  that  he  culti- 
vated the  good-will  of  the  republican  party  so  that  he 
might  be  able  more  effectually  to  serve  the  King.  He 
might  have  stopped  the  bill  for  turning  the  Bishops  out 
of  the  House  of  Lords,  by  insisting  on  the  objection  that 
a  bill  to  the  same  effect  had  been  rejected  during  the  same 


1642.]  LORD     LITTLETON.  275 

session  ;  but  yielding  to  the  clamor  of  the  mob,  he  voted 
for  it,  and  joined  in  advising  the  King  to  assent  to  it. 

He  then  suddenly  took  another  turn,  which  was  still 
more  fatal  to  the  royal  cause.  The  Queen,  the  ladies  of 
the  Court,  and  Lord  Digby,  resolved  that  they  would  put 
down  the  movement  by  a  display  of  vigor,  and  that  the 
prosecutors  of  Strafford  should  share  his  fate.  A  charge 
of  high  treason  was  to  be  suddenly  brought  against  Lord 
Kimbolton,  Pym,  Denzill  Hollis,  Sir  Arthur  Hazelrig, 
Hampden,  and  Strode,  upon  which  they  were  to  be  com- 
mitted to  prison,  and  it  was  thought  that  the  disaffected, 
thus  deprived  of  their  leaders,  would  instantly  become 
powerless.  The  charge  was  to  be  made — not  by  indict- 
ment before  a  grand  jury,  or  by  the  impeachment  of  the 
Commons, — but  by  the  Attorney  General  ex  officio  in  the 
House  of  Lords. 

When  this  scheme  was  disclosed  to  the  Lord  Keeper, 
he  must  have  seen  the  madness  of  it.  As  a  lawyer,  he 
must  have  known  that  the  House  of  Lords  had  no  juris- 
diction to  try  commoners  for  a  capital  offense  ;  and  that 
the  Attorney  General  had  no  power  to  originate  such  a 
prosecution.1  As  a  man  of  sense  and  observation,  he 
must  have  been  aware  that  the  House  of  Commons  and 
the  public  would  not  allow  such  a  prosecution  to  proceed  ; 
and  that  the  attempt  would  only  add  to  the  popular  ex- 
citement, and  prevent  all  chance  of  reaction.  But  finding 
that  the  King  was  strongly  bent  upon  it,  he  had  not  the 
courage  to  oppose  it ;  and  he  communicated  a  royal 
message  to  the  Lords,  "  that  the  Attorney  General,  by 
the  King's  special  command,  was  to  lay  before  them  a 
charge,  for  high  treason,  against  one  member  of  that 
House  and  five  members  of  the  other  House  of  parlia- 
ment." Herbert,  the  Attorney  General,  who  had  ceased 
to  be  a  member  of  the  House  of  Commons,  and  had  taken 
his  seat  in  the  House  of  Lords,  under  his  writ  of  summons 
as  an  assistant,  then  rose  from  the  Judges'  woolsack  where 
he  had  been  placed,  and  standing  at  the  clerk's  table, 
said  "  that  the  King  had  commanded  him  to  tell  their 
Lordships  that  great  and  treasonable  designs  and  practices 
against  him  and  the  state  had  come  to  his  Majesty's 
knowledge  ;  for  which  the  King  had  given  him  command 

1  Appeals  of  treason  in  Parliament  had  been  abolished  by  I  Hen.  IV.  c. 
14.     See  Bl.  Com.  314. 


276  CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    /.        [1642. 

to  accuse  six  persons  of  high  treason,  and  other  high  mis- 
demeanors, by  delivering  the  articles  in  writing,  which  he 
had  in  his  hand,  which  he  received  from  his  Majesty,  and 
was  commanded  to  desire  their  Lordships  to  hear  read." 

The  articles  being  read,  they  were  found  to  charge  the 
accused  with  subverting  the  fundamental  laws  of  the  king- 
dom,— with  attempting  to  alienate  the  affections  of  the 
people  from  the  King, — with  sowing  disaffection  in  the 
army, — with  inviting  the  Scots  to  invade  England, — with 
endeavoring  to  overturn  the  rights  and  being  of  parlia- 
ments,— with  exciting  tumults, — and  with  conspiring  to 
levy  war  against  the  King.  Mr.  Attorney  then  moved, 
that  their  Lordships  would  take  care  for  securing  the 
persons  of  the  accused.  Lord  Kimbolton  was  in  the 
House  sitting  by  Lord  Digby,  with  whom  he  had  a  great 
private  intimacy ;  and  who,  although  he  had  recom- 
mended the  measure,  pretended  to  him  that  it  struck  him 
with  surprise  and  horror.  According  to  the  concerted 
plan,  and  according  to  the  course  pursued  with  Strafford 
and  Laud,  the  Lord  Keeper  ought  to  have  moved  the  im- 
mediate commitment  of  Lord  Kimbolton  ;  but  his  courage 
failed  him,  and  the  House  adjourned. 

There  is  no  direct  evidence  that  Littleton  was  privy  to 
the  fatal  course  now  pursued  by  the  King,  in  going  to  the 
House  of  Commons  personally  to  demand  and  arrest  the 
five  members,  when  they  were  not  delivered  up  to  his 
messenger;  but  it  is  hardly  possible  to  impute  to  Charles 
such  culpable  misconduct,  such  folly,  as  well  as  such 
criminality,  as  that  he  should  proceed  in  a  matter  of  such 
infinite  importance,  depending  upon  the  legal  extent  of 
his  prerogative,  without  consulting  his  chief  law  adviser 
and  the  Keeper  of  his  conscience,  with  whom  he  was  in 
constant  intercourse.  We  know  that  a  private  council 
had  been  held  upon  the  subject,  from  the  intelligence 
conveyed  to  those  most  interested  by  the  French  am- 
bassador,1 and  by  "that  busy  stateswoman,  the  Countess 
of  Carlisle,  who  had  now  changed  her  gallant  from  Straf- 
ford to  Pym."a  If  Littleton  was  present  when  it  was 
debated  and  approved  of,  we  may  be  sure  from  his  charac- 
ter that  however  much  he  might  disapprove,  he  would 
not  venture  to  oppose  it.  To  his  timid  acquiescence  in 

1  "  J'avois  prevenu  mes  amis,  et  ils  s'6toient  mis  en  suret6." — Mazure, 
iii.  429.  a  Warwick,  204. 


1642.]  LORD     LITTLETON.  277 

whatever  was  proposed  on  either  side,  however  imprudent 
or  unconstitutional,  may  in  no  small  degree  be  attributed 
the  fatal  collision  which  followed.  All  historians  agree, 
that  the  prosecution  of  Lord  Kimbolton  and  the  five 
members,  which  he  might  easily  have  prevented,  was  the 
proximate  cause  of  the  civil  war ;  for  the  popular  leaders 
now  saw  that  no  faith  was  to  be  placed  in  any  of  the  pro- 
fessions of  the  Court ;  and  that  without  an  appeal  to  the 
sword,  their  own  lives  must  certainly  be  sacrificed. 

When  it  was  too  late,  the  Lord  Keeper  brought  down 
a  message  from  the  King,  "  that  in  all  his  proceedings 
against  the  Lord  Kimbolton  and  the  five  members,  he 
had  never  the  least  intention  of  violating  the  least  privi- 
lege of  parliament ;  and  that  he  was  willing  to  have  the 
matter  cleared  up  in  any  way  that  parliament  should  ad- 
vise." But  this  concession  was  imputed  to  a  temporary 
apprehension  from  the  burst  of  indignation  which  the 
previous  outrage  had  universally  called  forth. 

Preparations  were  now  made  on  both  sides  for  hostili- 
ties ;  and  the  country  party  brought  in  their  bill  for  regu- 
lating the  militia,  which  they  thought  indispensable  for 
their  own  safety,  although  they  could  not  expect  that  the 
King  would  agree  to  it,  as  it  appointed  a  military  chief  in 
every  county,  and  in  substance  transferred  the  command 
of  the  army  from  the  Crown  to  the  Parliament. 


CHAPTER  LXVI. 

CONCLUSION   OF  THE   LIFE  OF  LORD  KEEPER   LITTLETON. 

THE  King  now  withdrew  from  London,  and  after 
passing  some  time  at  Newmarket,  was  proceeding 
towards  York,  communicating  from  time  to  time 
with  the  Lord  Keeper,  in  whom  he  still  placed  some 
lingering  confidence.  Being  determined  to  dismiss  the 
Earl  of  Essex  and  the  Earl  of  Holland  from  the  offices  of 
Chamberlain  and  Groom  of  the  Stole,  he  sent  an  order  to 
Littleton  that  he  should  require  the  staff  and  key  from 
the  one  and  the  other.  The  Keeper  trembled  at  the  task, 
and  not  being  able  to  summon  up  courage  to  undertake 
it,  went  privately  to  Lord  Falkland  and  desired  him  to 


278        CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    I.          [1642. 

assist  him  in  presenting  his  excuse  to  the  King.  Making 
many  professions  of  loyalty,  he  expressed  a  hope  that  his 
Majesty  would  not  command  him  in  an  affair  so  unsuit- 
able to  the  office  he  held ;  that  no  Keeper  had  ever  been 
employed  in  such  a  service  ;  and  that  if  he  should  execute 
the  order  it  would  be  voted  a  breach  of  privilege,  and  the 
House  would  commit  him  to  prison,  by  which  not  only 
would  he  himself  be  ruined,  but  the  King  would  receive 
the  greatest  affront ;  whereas  the  thing  itself  might  be 
done  by  a  more  proper  officer  without  inconvenience. 
"  How  weak  soever  the  reasons  were,"  says  Lord  Claren- 
don, "  the  passion  was  strong,"  and  his  representation 
being  transmitted  to  the  King,  he  was  excused,  and  the 
harsh  duty  was  imposed  upon  Lord  Falkland  himself. 

But  the  conduct  of  the  Lord  Keeper  was  now  so  un- 
satisfactory that  the  King  resolved  to  get  rid  of  him. 
Since  the  failure  of  the  prosecution  of  the  five  members, 
Littleton  had  abandoned  all  effort  to  put  on  a  show  of 
vigor  in  the  House  of  Lords,  and  had  silently  suffered  the 
most  objectionable  votes  to  be  carried  without  opposition. 
He  was  even  suspected  of  perfidy,  for  he  not  only  declined 
performing  the  duty  which  the  King  had  enjoined  in  ref- 
erence to  the  Earls  of  Essex  and  Holland,  but  he  had 
private  conferences  with  the  leaders  of  the  parliamentary 
party,  who  frequently  resorted  to  him,  and  whom  he  ap- 
peared very  much  to  court.  At  last,  having  supported 
the  Militia  Bill  to  which  the  King  refused  the  royal  assent, 
— when  it  again  came  up  from  the  Commons  in  the  form 
of  an  ordinance  by  the  two  Houses,  omitting  the  King's 
name, — he  put  the  question  upon  it  from  the  woolsack, 
and  himself  actually  voted  for  it,  "to  the  infinite  offense 
and  scandal  of  all  those. who  adhered  to  the  King."1 
This  was  in  reality  the  abolition  of  monarchy  and  the  es- 
tablishment of  a  republic. 

Hyde,  who  had  a  kindness  for  him,  and  suspected  that 
his  nerves  might  be  more  in  fault  than  his  principles,  went 
early  next  morning  to  call  upon  him  at  Exeter  House, 
and  finding  him  in  his  study,  began  to  express  great  as- 
tonishment and  regret  at  his  recent  conduct,  and  plainly 
told  him  how  he  had  lost  the  esteem  of  all  good  men,  and 
that  the  King  could  not  but  be  exceedingly  dissatisfied 
with  him.  Some  attendants  being  heard  in  an  outer  room, 

1  Clarendon.     2  Parl.  Hist.  1091,  mo,  1114. 


1642.]  LORD     LITTLETON.  279 

Littleton  desired  them  to  withdraw.  Then  locking  the 
door  of  that  room  and  of  the  study,  he  made  Hyde  take 
a  seat,  and  sitting  down  near  him,  thus  unburdened  his 
mind  : — 

"  The  best  proof  I  can  give  of  my  value  for  this  proof 
of  your  friendship  is  by  concealing  nothing  from  you. 
You  see  before  you  the  most  wretched  of  mankind.  I  have 
not  had  an  hour  of  peace  or  comfort  since  I  left  the  Com- 
mon Pleas,  where  I  knew  both  the  business  and  the  per- 
sons I  had  to  deal  with.  I  am  supposed  to  be  preferred 
to  a  higher  dignity,  but  I  am  now  obliged  to  converse 
with  another  set  of  men  who  are  strangers  to  me,  and  with 
affairs  which  I  understand  not.  I  have  had  no  friend 
with  whom  I  could  confer  on  any  doubt  which  might  occur 
to  me.  The  state  of  public  affairs  has  been  deplorable 
and  heart-breaking.  The  King  is  ill-counseled  and  is  be- 
trayed by  those  about  him.  The  proceedings  of  the  par- 
liament which  I  may  have  appeared  to  countenance,  I 
more  bitterly  condemn;  and  I  am  filled  with  the  most 
gloomy  forebodings,  for  they  would  never  do  this  if  they 
were  not  resolved  to  do  more.  I  know  the  King  too  well, 
and  I  observe  the  carriage  of  particular  men  too  much, 
and  I  have  watched  the  whole  current  of  public  transac- 
tions these  last  five  or  six  months,  not  to  foresee,  that  it 
can  not  be  long  before  there  will  be  a  war  between  the 
King  and  the  two  Houses.  I  often  think  with  myself  of 
what  importance  it  will  then  be,  which  party  shall  have 
the  Great  Seal,  the  Clavis  Regni,  the  token  of  supreme 
authority.  In  my  heart  I  am  and  ever  have  been  for  the 
King,  both  out  of  affection  to  his  person  and  respect  for 
his  high  and  sacred  office.  When  the  trial  comes,  no 
man  shall  be  more  ready  to  perish  either  with  or  for  his 
Majesty  than  myself.  It  is  the  prospect  of  this  necessity 
that  has  made  me  carry  myself  towards  that  party  with 
so  much  compliance,  that  I  may  be  gracious  with  them, — 
at  least  that  they  may  have  no  distrust  of  me.  I  know 
that  they  have  had  a  consultation  within  a  few  days 
whether,  as  I  may  be  sent  for  by  the  King  or  another  put 
in  my  stead,  it  would  not  be  best  to  appoint  the  Seal  to 
be  kept  in  some  secure  place,  so  that  they  might  be  in  no 
danger  of  losing  it,  and  that  the  Keeper  should  receive 
it  from  time  to  time  for  the  execution  of  his  office.  The 
knowledge  I  .had  of  this  consultation,  and  the  fear  I  had 


28o          CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    I.         [1642. 

of  the  execution  of  it,  has  been  the  reason  why,  in  the 
debate  on  the  militia,  I  gave  my  vote  in  such  a  manner 
as  must  make  a  very  ill  impression  with  the  King  and 
many  others  who  do  not  inwardly  know  me.  If  I  had  not 
now  submitted  to  those  I  mislike,  this  very  night  the  Seal 
had  been  taken  from  me.  But  my  compliance  will  only 
prejudice  myself,  not  the  King.  I  have  now  got  so 
fast  into  their  confidence,  that  I  shall  be  able  to  preserve 
the  Seal  in  my  own  hands  till  the  King  require  it  of  me, 
and  then  I  shall  be  ready  to  attend  his  Majesty  with  it, 
wherever  he  may  be,  or  whatsoever  fortune  may  betide 
him." 

Hyde,  convinced  of  his  present  sincerity,  although  not 
altogether  satisfied  with  the  explanation  of  his  past 
wavering,  asked  him  "  whether  he  would  give  him  leave, 
when  there  should  be  a  fit  occasion,  to  assure  the  King 
that  he  would  perform  this  service  when  required  of 
him  ?"  Littleton  solemnly  passed  his  word  for  the  per- 
formance of  it  as  soon  as  his  Majesty  pleased ;  and  so 
they  parted. 

When  the  news  of  the  Lord  Keeper's  vote  on  the 
Militia  Bill  reached  York,  the  whole  Court  was  thrown 
into  amazement  and  dismay.  The  King,  exceedingly  dis- 
pleased and  provoked,  sent  a  peremptory  order  to  Lord 
Falkland  instantly  to  demand  the  Great  Seal  from  the 
traitor,  and  desired  him  to  consult  with  Hyde  as  to  who 
would  be  the  fittest  person  to  be  appointed  to  succeed, 
suggesting  the  names  of  Banks,  now  Chief  Justice  of  the 
Common  Pleas,  and  Selden,  the  celebrated  antiquary. 
The  positive  order  to  require  the  Seal  from  the  present 
Lord  Keeper  would  have  been  obeyed,  had  not  Falk- 
land and  Hyde  been  so  much  puzzled  about  recommending 
a  successor;  but  they  thought  the  Lord  Chief  Justice 
Banks  might  be  as  timorous  as  the  other  in  a  time  of  so 
much  disorder,  although  he  had  been  bold  enough  in  the 
absence  of  danger,  and  they  concluded  that  he  was  not 
equal  to  the  charge.  "  They  did  not  doubt  Mr.  Selden's 
affection  to  the  King  any  more  than  his  learning  and 
capacity,  but  they  were  convinced  that  he  would  abso- 
lutely refuse  the  place  if  it  were  offered  to  him,  as  he  was 
in  years,  and  of  a  weak  constitution,  and  had  long  en- 
joyed his  ease,  which  he  loved,  and  was  rich,  and  would 
not  have  made  a  journey  to  York,  or  lain  out  of  his  own 


1642.]  LORD    LITTLETON.  281 

bed,  for  any  preferment."1  Neither  Herbert  nor  St.  John, 
the  Attorney  and  Solicitor  General,  of  extreme  opinions 
on  opposite  sides,  could  be  thought  of  for  a  moment. 
Hyde  then  disclosed  to  Falkland,  the  conference  he  had 
had  with  Littleton,  the  Lord  Keeper's  loyal  professions, 
and  the  solemn  pledge  he  had  given ;  and  proposed  that 
they  should,  along  with  their  opinions  of  the  other  persons, 
submit  advice  to  his  Majesty  to  suspend  his  resolution 
concerning  the  Lord  Keeper,  and  rather  to  write  kindly 
to  him  to  bring  the  Seal  to  York,  instead  of  sternly  send- 
ing for  it  and  casting  him  off.  Hyde  finished  by  offering 
to  stake  his  own  credit  with  the  King  that  Littleton  would 
be  true. 

Lord  Falkland  had  no  esteem  of  the  Keeper,  nor  be- 
lieved that  he  would  go  to  the  King  if  he  were  sent  for, 
but  would  find  some  trick  to  excuse  himself,  and  was  for 
immediately  getting  the  Great  Seal  out  of  his  hands. 
Hyde,  as  a  professional  lawyer,  pointed  out  how  abso- 
lutely necessary  it  was,  at  such  a  juncture,  that  the  King 
should  first  resolve  into  what  hands  to  put  the  Seal  before 
he  reclaimed  it,  for  that  it  could  not  be  put  out  of  action 
for  one  hour,  but  that  the  whole  justice  of  the  kingdom 
would  be  disordered,  which  would  raise  a  greater  and 
juster  clamor  than  there  had  yet  been ;  and  again  urged 
that  care  should  be  taken  that  no  man  should  be  able  to 
say  he  had  refused  the  office,  an  occurrence  which  would  be 
most  prejudicial  to  the  royal  cause.  He  observed,  "  that 
the  great  object  was  to  have  the  Seal  where  the  King 
himself  resolved  to  be,  and  that  if  the  Lord  Littleton 
would  perform  his  promise,  it  were  desirable  that  he  and 
the  Seal  were  both  there ;  if,  on  the  contrary,  he  were  not 
an  honest  man,  and  cared  not  for  offending  the  King,  he 
would  refuse  to  deliver  it  up,  and  inform  the  disaffected 
Lords  of  his  refusal,  who  would  justify  him  for  his  diso- 
bedience, and  they  rewarding  and  cherishing  him,  he  must 
ever  after  serve  their  turn,  and  thus  his  Majesty's  own 
Great  Seal  should  be  every  day  used  against  him,  the 
mischief  whereof  would  be  greater  than  could  well  be  im- 
agined."* 

Falkland  yielded,  and  they  resolved  to  give  an  account 
of  the  whole  to  the  King  and  expect  his  order.  Charles 
naturally  had  great  misgivings  of  the  fidelity  and  firmness 
1  Clarendon.  *  Ibid. 


282  CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    I.        [1642. 

of  Littleton,  notwithstanding  Hyde's  confidence,  but  ap- 
proved of  the  course  recommended,  and  wrote  back  that 
on  Saturday,  in  the  following  week,  as  soon  as  the  House 
of  Lords  had  adjourned,  a  messenger  from  him  should  ar- 
rive at  Exeter  House  and  order  the  Keeper  with  the  Seal 
to  repair  to  him  forthwith  at  York.  This  resolution  was 
communicated  by  Hyde  and  Falkland  to  Littleton,  who 
expressed  much  joy  at  it,  and  promised  that  all  should  be 
arranged  to  the  King's  contentment. 

On  the  Saturday  he  privately  intimated  that  he  was 
going  to  his  villa  at  Cranford  for  his  health,  and  induced 
the  Lords  to  adjourn  the  House  to  as  late  an  hour  as  ten 
o'clock  on  the  Monday  morning,  that  he  might  sleep  two 
nights  in  the  country.  He  had  not  long  got  back  to  his 
house  in  the  Strand,  when  about  two  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon, Mr.  Elliot,  a  groom  of  the  bed-chamber  to  the 
Prince,  entered  his  study,  where  in  breathless  expectation 
he  was  waiting  the  royal  messenger,  and  delivered  to  him 
an  autograph  letter  from  the  King,  requiring  him,  with 
many  expressions  of  kindness  and  esteem,  to  make  haste  to 
him ;  and  if  his  indisposition,  for  he  was  often  troubled 
with  gravel,  would  not  suffer  him  to  use  such  speed  upon 
the  journey  as  the  occasion  required,  that  he  should  de- 
liver the  Seal  to  the  person  who  gave  him  the  letter,  who 
being  a  strong  young  man,  would  make  such  haste  as  was 
necessary,  and  that  he  might  himself  perform  his  journey 
by  degrees  suitable  to  his  infirmities. 

Littleton  was  surprised  and  mortified  to  find  that  the 
purpose  of  his  journey  had  been  communicated  to  the 
messenger,  who  bluntly  demanded  the  Seal  from  him, 
and  he  at  first  declared  that  he  would  not  deliver  it  into 
any  hands  but  the  King's ;  but  he  considered  that  it 
would  be  hazardous  to  carry  the  Seal  himself  in  such  a 
journey, — that  if,  by  pursuit  of  him  which  he  could  not 
but  suspect,  he  should  be  seized  upon,  the  King  would 
be  very  unhappily  disappointed  of  the  Seal,  and  that  this 
misfortune  would  be  imputed  to  imprudence  in  him,  per- 
haps to  unfaithfulness.  So  he  delivered  the  Seal  to  the 
person  trusted  by  the  King  to  receive  it,  without  telling 
him  anything  of  his  own  purpose.  Elliot  was  instantly 
mounted,  and  having  provided  a  relay  of  horses,  with 
wonderful  expedition  presented  it  to  the  delighted  King 
at  York,  who,  for  a  moment,  supposed  he  had  recovered 


1642.]  LORD    LITTLETON.  283 

all  his  authority;  and,  to  enhance  his  merit,  Elliot  told  a 
vaporing  story  which  he  had  invented,  "  how  the  Lord 
Keeper  had  refused  to  deliver  the  Seal,  and  how  he  got 
it  by  force  by  having  locked  the  door  upon  him,  and 
threatened  to  kill  him  if  he  would  not  give  it  to  him, 
which  upon  such  his  manhood,  he  did  for  pure  fear  consent 
unto."1 

As  soon  as  the  messenger  was  gone,  Littleton  pretended 
to  be  much  indisposed,  and  gave  orders  that  no  one  should 
be  admitted  to  speak  with  him.  He  then  called  in  Lee, 
his  purse-bearer,  on  whose  fidelity  he  could  entirely  rely, 
and  putting  his  life  in  the  power  of  this  dependent,  told 
him  he  was  resolved  to  go  next  morning  to  the  King,  who 
had  sent  for  him ;  that  he  knew  the  malice  of  the  parlia- 
ment would  use  all  means  to  apprehend  him ;  that  he 
knew  not  how  he  should  be  able  to  bear  the  fatigue  of 
the  journey;  that  his  horses  should  be  ordered  to  be 
ready  against  the  next  morning  :  that  his  own  groom  only 
should  attend  him,  and  that  his  purpose  should  be  im- 
parted to  no  one  else  living.  The  faithful  purse-bearer, 
who  was  a  keen  royalist,  was  greatly  delighted  with  his 
confidence,  and  insisted  on  being  of  the  party. 

At  day-break  next  morning,  the  Lord  Keeper  and  his 
purse-bearer  stepped  into  his  carriage,  as  if  they  had  been 
going  to  Cranford ;  but  when  they  had  got  into  the  part 
of  the  country  where  Piccadilly  now  stands,  they  dis- 
covered by  the  side  of  a  hedge  the  groom  and  two  led 
horses.  They  immediately  mounted,  and  taking  by-paths 
till  they  were  at  a  considerable  distance  from  the  me- 
tropolis, at  noon  felt  themselves  tolerably  secure.  The 
Lord  Keeper's  health  stood  the  severe  exercise  beyond 
his  expectation,  and  before  the  end  of  the  third  day  he 
kissed  the  King's  hand  at  York.8 

1  Life  of  Clarendon,  i.  120.  I  am  informed  by  Lord  Hatherton  that 
"  there  is  a  tradition  in  the  family  that  Elliot  forced  it  from  him  with  a  pistol, 
and  that  the  Lord  Keeper,  foreseeing  the  bad  consequences  such  an  outrage 
might  produce  to  the  credit  of  the  King  and  Elliot,  prudently  followed  Elliot 
to  York,  in  order  to  prevent  it,  by  giving  it  the  appearance  of  being  his  own 
voluntary  act."  But  the  account  of  the  transaction  which  I  have  adopted, 
not  only  stands  on  positive  testimony,  but  is  supported  by  probability.  If 
Littleton  had  broken  his  promise,  and  tried  to  retain  the  Seal  against  the 
King's  mandate,  he  would  have  proceeded  to  York — only  to  be  hanged  in  the 
Castle  Yard. 

*  This  was  considered  an  extraordinary  journey,  being  performed,  I  pre- 
sume, on  the  same  horses ;  but  by  relays  of  horses  there  was  sometimes  in 


284  CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    I.       [1642. 

Sunday  passed  over  in  London  without  any  alarm, 
those  who  inquired  about  the  Lord  Keeper  believing,  as 
they  were  told,  that  he  was  at  his  country-house,  at  Cran- 
ford ;  but  when  he  did  not  appear  at  the  hour  to  which 
the  Lords  had  adjourned  on  Monday,  the  truth  of  his 
flight  was  discovered,  and  the  confusion  in  Jpoth  Houses 
was  very  great.  The  few  friends  of  the  King  rejoiced  ; 
but  the  popular  leaders,  who  imagined  they  knew  all 
Littleton's  thoughts,  and  had  secured  him  to  their  in- 
terests, hung  down  their  heads,  and  were  distracted  with 
shame.  When  they  had  a  little  recovered  their  spirits, 
although  they  concluded  that  he  was  out  of  their  reach, 
yet  to  show  their  indignation,  and  perhaps  in  the  hope 
that  his  infirmities  might  detain  him  on  the  journey,  they 
issued  a  warrant  for  apprehending  him,  and  bringing  him 
and  the  Great  Seal  back  to  Westminster,  as  if  they  had 
been  making  hue  and  cry  after  a  felon  with  stolen  goods.1 
The  two  Houses  made  a  further  decree,  that  if  he  did  not 
return  in  fourteen  days  he  should  lose  his  office,  and  that 
all  patents  afterwards  sealed  with  the  Great  Seal  which 
he  had  carried  off  should  be  void.  We  shall  see  in  the 
sequel,  however,  that  they  repaired  the  loss  by  manu- 
facturing a  Great  Seal  of  their  own,  under  which  they  is- 
sued edicts  in  the  King's  name  in  defiance  of  his  authority." 

Littleton's  conduct  at  York  was  extremely  mysterious, 
and  seems  to  show  that  he  is  liable  to  the  charge  of 
duplicity  as  well  as  timidity.  He  was  again  declared 
Lord  Keeper,  though  for  some  time  the  King  would  not 
trust  the  Seal  out  of  his  own  presence,  and  when  it  was 

those  days  a  dispatch  which,  till  railways  came  up,  must  have  seemed  marvel- 
ous. Between  Charles  at  York  and  Hyde  in  London,  papers  were  trans- 
mitted by  royalist  gentlemen,  who  voluntarily  offered  their  services,  and  who 
sometimes  performed  the  journey  and  brought  back  the  answer  in  the  short 
space  of  thirty-four  hours.  See  the  account  of  the  transmission  of  the  news 
of  Elizabeth's  death  to  James,  ante,  vol.  ii.,  p.  368. 

1  2  Farl.  Hist.  1270.  The  warrant  was  addressed  "  To  the  gentleman 
usher,  or  his  deputy  ;  and  all  sheriffs,  mayors,  and  other  his  Majesty's  officers, 
shall  be  aiding  and  assisting  to  the  gentleman  usher  or  his  deputies." 

4  In  this  narration  of  Littleton's  flight  to  York,  I  have  closely  followed  the 
authority  of  Clarendon,  who  ought  to  be  accurate,  as  he  was  personally  privy 
to  the  whole  transaction  ;  but  according  to  the  Journals  of  the  Lords — on  the 
2Oth  of  May,  "  the  Lord  Keeper  not  being  well,  and  so  unable  to  sit  as 
Speaker,  the  House  gave  him  leave  to  be  absent,  and  appointed  the  Lord 
Privy  Seal  to  sit  as  Speaker  ;"  and  on  Saturday  the2ist,  the  House  "  ordered 
that  the  Lord  Keeper  have  leave  to  be  absent  two  or  three  days  for  his 
health." — Lords'  Journals,  v.  76,  77.  It  is  possible  that  he  may  have  attended 
and  made  his  excuse,  and  obtained  leave  of  absence  in  person. 


1642.]  LORD    LITTLETON.  285 

to  be  used,  produced  it  to  Littleton,  and  received  it  back 
from  him  as  soon  as  the  sealing  was  over.  Credit  was 
given  by  many  about  the  Court  to  Elliot's  story,  till 
Hyde  arrived  at  York,  and  stood  up  for  the  Lord 
Keeper's  fidelity.  The  King  then  expressed  a  wish  to 
take  the  Great  Seal  from  him  ;  but  Hyde  told  him  "  that 
he  would  discourage  many  good  men  who  desired  to  serve 
him  very  faithfully  if  he  were  too  severe  for  such  faults  as 
the  infirmities  of  their  nature  and  defects  in  their  educa- 
tion exposed  them  to,  and  that  if  the  Keeper,  from  those 
impressions,  had  committed  some  faults  which  might  pro- 
voke his  Majesty's  displeasure,  he  had  redeemed  thpse 
errors  by  a  signal  service,  which  might  well  wipe  out  the 
memory  of  the  other."  The  King  allowed  that  he  had 
made  expiation,  but  complained  of  his  present  conduct, 
and  that  he  still  raised  difficulties  about  putting  the  Great 
Seal  to  proclamations  against  the  parliament.  Hyde  re- 
plied, that  "the  poor  gentleman  could  not  but  think  him- 
self disobliged  to  the  highest  extremity  in  the  presump- 
tion of  Mr.  Elliot,  and  that  his  extravagant  and  insolent 
discourses  should  find  credit  without  his  Majesty's  repre- 
hension and  vindication,  who  knew  the  falsehood  of  them ; 
that  his  Majesty  should  remember  he  had  newly  escaped 
out  of  that  region  where  the  thunder  and  lightning  is 
made,  and  that  he  could  hardly  yet  recover  the  fright  he 
had  been  often  in,  and  seen  so  many  others  in ;  and  that 
his  Majesty  need  not  mistrust  him, — he  had  passed  the 
Rubicon,  and  had  no  hope  but  in  his  Majesty."  Charles 
promised  to  show,  him  countenance  and  protection  in 
future. 

The  exclusive  custody  of  the  Great  Seal  was  then 
offered  to  him,  but  he,  expressing  great  joy  at  this  mark 
of  confidence,  begged  that  it  might  remain  with  his  Maj- 
esty, to  be  given  to  him  when  necessary,  lest,  by  any 
violence  or  stratagem,  it  might  be  taken  from  him,  and 
carried  back  to  the  parliament.1 

One  would  have  thought  that  he  would  now  have  been 
disposed  to  set  the  parliament  at  defiance ;  but  as  soon 
as  he  heard  of  the  steps  taken  against  him  at  Westminster, 
he  sent  to  the  House  of  Lords  "  the  humble  petition  of 
Edward  Littleton,  Lord  Keeper  of  the  Great  Seal,"  show- 
ing that  he  was  very  willing  to  submit  to  their  Lordship's 

1  Life  of  Clarendon,  i.  125. 


286          CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    I.        [1642. 

order,  but  that  this  was  impossible  (as  appeared  by  the 
annexed  affidavit),  without  danger  of  his  life  ;  and  that, 
having  been  ordered  by  the  King  to  come  to  York,  he  was 
further  ordered,  on  his  allegiance,  to  remain  there.  The 
affidavit  purported  to  be  sworn  by  his  servant,  who  ac- 
companied him  in  his  journey,  and  stated  what  was  pal- 
pably false,  that  he  was  so  ill  on  Monday,  the  23rd  of  May 
(when  he  was  proceeding  so  swiftly  to  the  north),  that  it 
was  conceived  he  would  then  have  died  ;  and  that  he  had 
since  been  disabled  from  traveling  by  his  diseases  and  in- 
firmities.1 

Nay,  further,  when  he  got  among  the  cavaliers,  there 
being  no  "  Times,"  "  Morning  Chronicle,"  or  "  Hansard  " 
to  refer  to,  he  pretended  that  he  had  never  favored  the  par- 
liamentary party,  and  he  had  the  hardihood  to  assert  that 
he  had  not  voted  in  support  of  the  Militia  Bill. 

These  statements  being  reported  to  the  Lords  at  West- 
minster, they  ordered  a  committee  of  three  to  search  the 
Journals  for  the  truth  of  this  matter,  who  immediately 
reported  "  That  the  Lord  Keeper  was  present  when  the 
petition  to  the  King  concerning  the  militia  was  agreed  on  ; 
that  he  was  present,  argued,  and  voted  for  the  following 
resolution  :  That  in  case  of  extreme  danger  and  of  his  Maj- 
esty s  refusal,  the  ordinance  of  both  Houses  doth  oblige  the 
people,  and  by  the  fundamental  laws  of  this  kingdom  ought 
to  be  obeyed ;  and,  lastly,  that  he  himself,  under  the 
MILITIA  ORDINANCE,  named  deputy-lieutenants,  and 
consented  to  the  several  forms  of  deputations  of  the 
militia."2 

In  the  history  of  the  Great  Seal  I  ought  here  to  men- 
tion that  the  two  Houses,  in  their  celebrated  "  Petition 
and  Advice"  of  2nd  June,  1642,  proposed  that  the  Lord 
Chancellor  or  Lord  Keeper,  with  some  other  officers, 
should  always  be  chosen  with  the  approbation  of  both 
Houses;  but  the  King  received  the  proposal  with  mockery 
and  scorn. 

Although  Littleton  was  continued  in  his  office  by  the 
King  till  the  time  of  his.death,  and  although  he  ever  after 
adhered  to  the  royal  cause,  he  does  not  seem  to  have 
been  much  trusted,  and  his  name  seldom  occurs  in  sub- 
sequent transactions.  He  was  not  admitted  with  Hyde 
and  Falkland  into  the  secret  consultations  of  the  royalists, 

1  2  Parl.  Hist.  1319.  *  Ibid.  1367. 


1644.]  LORD    LITTLETON.  287 

and  his  only  official  duty  was  to  put  the  Great  Seal  to 
proclamations  and  patents.  As  Lord  Keeper  he  was  al- 
lowed, according  to  his  precedence,  to  put  his  name  first 
to  the  declaration  issued  by  forty-eight  Peers,  just  before 
the  commencement  of  hostilities,  "  that  to  their  certain 
knowledge  the  king  had  no  intention  of  making  war  upon 
the  parliament."  He  fixed  his  residence  at  Oxford,  now 
considered  the  seat  of  government,  but  was  sometimes 
called  upon  to  attend  the  King  in  his  campaigns.  With- 
out a  bar,  solicitors,  or  suitors,  he  pretended  to  sit  in 
Chancery,  and  he  went  through  the  form  of  passing  a 
commission  under  the  Great  Seal,  appointing  certain  other 
persons  to  hear  and  determine  causes  in  his  absence.1 
His  most  solemn  judicial  act  at  Oxford  was  calling  Sir 
Richard  Lane  to  the  degree  of  Sergeant  at  Law,  and 
swearing  him  in  Chief  Baron  of  the  Exchequer. 

A/ter  the  battles  of  Edge  Hill  and  Newbury  there  was, 
in  the  beginning  of  1644,  the  form  of  a  parliament  at  Ox- 
ford, and  a  much  greater  number  of  Peers  attended  here 
than  at  Westminster,  although  the  Bishops  were  not 
allowed  to  sit,  in  consequence  of  the  act  for  excluding 
them  from  parliament,  to  which  the  King  had  given  his 
assent.  The  Hall  of  one  of  the  Colleges  was  fitted  up 
in  the  fashion  of  the  House  of  Lords,  and  Littleton 
presided  on  the  supposed  woolsack.  But  though  Charles 
so  far  complied  with  the  forms  of  parliament  as  to  make 
the  two  Houses  a  short  speech  at  the  opening  of  the 
Session,  he  did  not  say,  according  to  the  precedents,  that 
the  Lord  Keeper  would  further  explain  to  them  the 
causes  of  their  being  assembled.  Littleton  still  being  al- 
lowed his  rank,  subscribed  next  after  the  Princes  of  the 
blood  the  letter  to  the  Earl  of  Essex,  proposing  an  ac- 
commodation; and  the  two  Houses,  without  venturing 
to  propose  a  tax,  having  resolved  to  raise  ,£100,000  for 
the  public  service  by  loan,  he,  jointly  with  the  Speaker 
of  tlje  House  of  Commons,  addressed  to  all  who  were 
supposed  able  to  contribute  to  it,  official  letters  of  solicit- 
ation bearing  a  very  considerable  resemblance  to  privy 
seals  for  the  raising  of  a  "  Benevolence."2 

1  Jan.  3,  1643. 

5  By  the  kindness  of  my  friend,  Lord  Hatherton,  I  am  enabled  to  lay 
before  the  reader  a  copy  of  one  of  these  letters,  which  must  be  considered  a 
very  interesting  historical  document :— 


288          CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    I.        [1645. 

He  had  fled  so  suddenly  from  London,  that  he  had  been 
obliged   to  leave  all  his  books  and  manuscripts  behind 

"  CHARLES  R. 

"  Trusty  and  well-beloved,  We  greet  you  well.  Whereas  all  our  subjects 
of  the  kingdome  of  England  and  dominion  of  Wales  are  both  by  their  allegi- 
ance and  the  Act  of  Pacification  bound  to  resist  and  suppresse  all  such  of 
Our  subjects  of  Scotland  as  have  in  a  hostile  manner  already  entred,  or  shall 
hereafter  enter  into  this  kingdome.  And  by  law,  your  personall  service, 
attended  in  a  warlike  manner  for  the  resistance  of  this  invasion,  may  be  re- 
quired by  Us,  which  we  desire  to  spare,  chusing  rather  to  invite  your  assist- 
ance for  the  maintenance  of  Our  army  in  a  free  and  voluntary  expression  of 
your  affections  to  our  service  and  the  safety  of  this  kingdome.  And  whereas 
the  members  of  both  Houses  of  Parliament,  assembled  at  Oxford,  have  taken 
into  their  consideration  the  means  of  supporting  our  army,  for  the  defense  of 
Us  and  Our  people  against  this  invasion,  and  for  the  preservation  of  the  re- 
ligion, laws,  and  liberties  of  this  kingdome,  and  therefore  have  agreed  upon 
the  speedy  raising  of  the  summe  of  one  hundred  thousand  pounds  by  loane 
from  particular  persons,  towards  the  which  themselves  have  advanced  a  very 
considerable  proportion,  and  by  their  examples  hope  that  Our  well-  affected 
subjects,  throughout  the  kingdome,  will  in  a  short  time  make  up  the  remain- 
der, whereby  We  shall  not  only  be  enabled  to  pay  and  recruit  Our  army,  but 
likewise  be  enabled  to  put  Our  armies  in  such  a  condition  as  Our  subjects 
shall  not  suffer  by  free  quarters,  or  the  unrulinesse  of  Our  soldiers,  which  is 
now  in  present  agitation,  amd  will  (we  no  way  doubt,  by  the  advice  of  the 
members  of  both  Houses  assembled)  be  speedily  effected.  We  doe  towards 
so  good  a  worke,  by  the  approbation  and  advice  of  the  said  members  of  both 
Houses  here  assembled,  desire  you  forthwith  to  lend  us  the  summe  of  one 
hundred  pounds,  or  the  value  thereof  in  plate,  toucht  plate  at  five  shillings, 
untoucht  plate  at  foure  shillings  foure  pence  per  ounce  ;  and  to  pay  or  deliver 
the  same  within  seven  daies  after  the  receipt  hereof,  to  the  hands  of  the  high 
sheriffe  of  that  our  county,  or  to  such  whom  he  shall  appoint  to  receive  the 
same  (upon  his  acquittances  for  the  receipt  thereof),  who  is  forthwith  to  re- 
turne  and  pay  the  same  at  Corpus  Christi  College  in  Oxford,  to  the  hands  of 
the  Earle  of  Bath,  the  Lord  Seymour,  Mr.  John  Ashburnham,  and  Mr.  John 
Pettyplace,  or  any  of  them,  who  are  appointed  treasurers  for  the  receiving 
and  issuing  thereof  by  the  said  members  (by  whose  order  only  the  said  money 
is  to  be  disposed),  and  to  give  receipts  for  the  same,  the  which  We  promise  to 
repay  as  soone  as  God  shall  enable  us  ;  this  summe  being  to  be  advanced 
with  speed,  We  are  necessitated  to  apply  ourselves  to  such  persons  as  your 
selfe,  of  whose  ability  and  affection  We  have  confidence,  giving  you  this 
assurance,  that  in  such  further  charges,  that  the  necessity  of  Our  just  defense 
shall  enforce  us  to  require  of  Our  good  subjects,  your  forwardness  and  dis- 
bursements shall  be  considered  to  your  best  advantage.  And  so  presuming 
you  will  not  faile  to  express  your  affection  herein,  We  bid  you  farewell. 
Given  at  Our  Court  at  Oxford,  the  I4th  day  of  February,  in  the  nineteenth 
year  of  our  raigne,  1643, 

"  By  the  advice  of  the  members  of  both  Houses  assembled 

at  Oxford.  "  ED.  LITTLETON,  C." 

The  above  letter  is  among  Lord  Hatherton's  family  papers.  The  direction 
on  it  is  torn  and  illegible  ;  but  no  doubt  it  was  addressed  to  the  owner  of  his 
estate,  at  that  time,  Sir  Edward  Littleton,  Bart.,  of  Pillaton  Hall.  In  a  cor- 
ner of  the  letter  are  a  few  lines,  signed  "  Tho.  Leveson  Arm.  Vic.  Com. 
Staff,"  which  are  almost  illegible.  They  begin,  "  I  am  commanded  to  send 
you  this  letter  ;"  the  remainder  seems  to  refer  to  the  time  and  manner  of  re- 
mitting the  money. 


1645.]  LORD    LITTLETON.  289 

him.  The  parliament  did  not  generously  send  them  after 
him  for  his  consolation,  but  made  an  order  that  "  in  re- 
spect to  the  learning  of  Mr.  Whitelock,  and  his  other 
merits  in  regard  to  the  public,  all  the  books  and  manu- 
scripts of  the  Lord  Littleton,  late  Keeper  of  the  Great 
Seal,  which  should  be  discovered,  should  be  bestowed  on 
Mr.  Whitelock,  and  that  the  Speaker  grant  his  warrant 
to  search  for  them,  seize  them,  and  put  them  into  his  pos- 
session." ' 

Being  practically  without  civil  occupation,  the  Lord 
Keeper  thought  that  he  might  agreeably  fill  up  his  leisure, 
and  that  he  might  raise  his  reputation,  by  looking  like 
the  times  and  becoming  a  soldier.  We  have  mentioned 
that  he  was  a  famous  swordsman  in  his  youth.  Though 
so  notorious  for  moral  cowardice,  he  was  by  no  means 
deficient  in  natural  bravery,  and  on  whichever  side  he 
happened  to  fight,  he  would  have  shown  an  English 
heart..  He  now  proposed  to  raise  a  volunteer  corps, 
which  he  himself  was  to  command, — to  consist  of  lawyers 
and  gentlemen  of  the  Inns  of  Court  and  Chancery,  officers 
of  the  different  Courts  of  Justice,  and  all  who  were  will- 
ing to  draw  a  weapon  for  Church  and  King  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Lord  Keeper.  The  offer  was  accepted, 
and  a  commission  was  granted  to  him,  of  which  the  doquet 
remains  among  the  instruments  passed  under  the  Great 
Seal  of  King  Charles  I.  at  Oxford. 

"  A  commission  granted  to  Edward,  Lord  Littleton, 
Lo.  Keep,  of  the  Great  Scale,  to  raise  a  regiment  of  foot 
souldiers,  consisting  of  gent,  of  the  Inns  of  Court  and 

Chauncy,  and  of  all  ministers  and  officers  belonging  to  the 

Court  of  Chauncy,  and  their  servants,  and  of  gent,  and 
others  who  will  voluntarily  put  themselves  under  his 
command  to  serve  his  Ma""  for  the  security  of  the  Uni- 
versitie  and  Cittie  of  Oxford.  T6  apud  Oxon.  xxi8  die 
Maij.  A°  R.  R.  Caroli,  xx'.a 

"  per  ipsm  Regem."  8 

1  Life  of  Whitelock,  58.  *  May  21,  1645. 

3  According  to  a  statement  by  the  Editor  of  his  "  Reports,"  the  Lord 
Keeper's  military  zeal  was  felt  by  all  members  of  the  profession  of  the  law 
then  at  Oxford,  the  Judges  included.  "  He  was  colonel  of  a  foot  regiment, 
in  which  were  listed  all  the  Judges,  lawyers,  and  officers  belonging  to  the 
several  courts  of  justice." — Pref.  ed.  1683.  This  reminds  me  of  the  gallant 
corps  in  which  I  myself  served  in  my  youth,  "  the  B.  I  C.  A.,"  or  "  Blooms- 
bury  and  Inns  of  Court  Association,"  consisting  of  barristers,  attorneys,  law 
III. — 19. 


290  CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    I.       [1645. 

V 

The  Lord  Keeper  devoted  himself  to  this  new  pursuit 
with  great  zeal  and  energy,  acting  the  part  of  Adjutant 
as  well  as  Commander,  and  as  he  was  a  remarkably  tall, 
handsome,  atheletic  man  in  a  green  old  age,  he  made  an 
excellent  officer.  All  connected  with  the  law  flocked  to 
his  standard,  and  their  number  was  greatly  increased  by 
recruits  from  the  different  colleges  who  mixed  military 
exercises  with  their  logical  contentions  in  the  schools. 
As  a  mark  of  respect  for  his  military  prowess,  the  Uni- 
versity now  conferred  upon  him  the  degree  of  Doctor  of 
the  Civil  Law.1  Whether  these  learned  volunteers  could 
ever  have  been  made  capable  of  facing  the  psalm-singing 
soldiers  of  Cromwell — commanded  by  "Colonel  Fight-the 
good-fight-of-Faith  "  and  "  Captain  Smite  them-them-hip- 
and-thigh," — is  left  in  doubt,  for  the  "  Lord  Keeper  Com- 
mandant," while  drilling  his  corps  one  morning  in  Bagley 
Wood,  was  overtaken  by  a  thunder  storm,  and  caught  a 
violent  cold.  This  being  neglected  turned  into  a  fever 
which  carried  him  off  on  the  2/th  of  August,  1645, 
to  the  regret  of  the  royalist  party,  notwithstanding  his 
backslidings  and  the  serious  suspicions  which  had  formerly 
been  entertained  of  his  fidelity. 

He  was  buried  with  military  honors  in  the  cathedral  of 
Christ  Church,  not  only  his  own  regiment,  but  the  whole 
garrison  attending.  All  the  nobility  of  Oxford  and  the 
heads  of  houses  joined  in  the  procession.  The  solemnity 
was  closed  with  a  funeral  eulogium  upon  him,  by  the  "  in- 
comparable Dr.  Hammond,"  then  Orator  of  the  Uni- 
versity. 

After  the  Restoration,  a  monument  was  erected  over 

students,  and  clerks,  raised  to  repel  the  invasion  threatened  by  Napoleon  ; 
but  none  of  the  reverend  sages  of  the  law  served  in  this  or  the  rival  legal 
corps  named  the  "Temple  Light  Infantry,"  or  "  The  Devil's  Own,"  com- 
manded by  Erskine,  still  at  the  bar.  Lord  Chancellor  Eldon  doubted  \hz  ex- 
pediency of  mixing  in  the  ranks,  and  did  not  aspire  to  be  an  officer  ;  Law, 
the  Attorney  General,  was  in  the  awkward  squad,  having  always  looked  to 
his  feet  when  the  word  of  command  was  given  "  Left  leg  forward,"  and  having 
replied  to  the  reprimand  of  the  drill-sergeant,  "By  what  process  can  I  know 
that  I  put  my  left  leg  forward  except  by  looking  ?''  Lord  Keeper  Littleton 
has,  therefore,  the  glory  of  being  recorded  as  the  last  successor  of  Turketel, 
Thomas-a-Becket,  and  the  Earl  of  Salisbury,  who  ever  carried  arms  while 
head  of  the  law. 

1  I  do  not  -  find  any  account  of  the  ceremony,  but  I  presume  the  public 
orator,  after  enumerating  his  high  civic  distinctions,  added,  "  et  militavit  non 
sine  gloria,"  the  compliment  paid  on  a  similar  occasion  to  Sir  WILLIAM 
GRANT,  Master  of  the  Rolls,  who  had  served  as  a  volunteer  in  Canada. 


1645.]  LORD    LITTLETON.  291 

his  grave — recording  his  origin,  the  high  offices  he  had 
held,  and  the  virtues  his  family  wished  to  have  attributed 
to  him — above  all — 

"  FORTITUDE   AND   UNSUSPECTED   FAITH   TO   HIS   SOVEREIGN." 

In  quiet  times  he  would  have  passed  through  the  world 
with  honor  and  applause.  Had  he  died  Chief  Justice  of 
the  Common  Pleas,  he  would  have  left  behind  him,  if  not 
a  splendid,  a  respectable  reputation.  But  his  elevation 
placed  him  in  situations  for  which  he  was  wholly  unfit  ; 
and  if  he  is  saved  from  being  classed  with  the  treacherous, 
the  perfidious,  and  the  infamous,  it  is  only  by  supposing 
him  to  be  the  most  irresolute,  nerveless,  and  pusillanimous 
of  mankind.  So  completely  did  his  faculties  abandon 
him  after  he  received  the  Great  Seal,  that  he  driveled  as 
a  Judge, — not  only  in  political  cases  before  the  Privy 
Council, — but  also  in  the  common  run  of  business  between 
party  and  party.  His  deficiency  in  the  Court  of  Chancery 
has  been  accounted  for  by  a  suggestion  that  he  was  pre- 
viously acquainted  only  with  the  practice  of  the  common- 
law  Courts;  but  this  is  wholly  unfounded;  for,  during 
the  whole  time  that  he  was  Solicitor  General,  he  was  in 
the  first  business  at  the  equity  bar,  though  neither  he, 
nor  any  other  counsel,  then  confined  themselves  to  that 
branch  of  practice. 

Lloyd,  with  the  undistinguishing  panegyrics  he  bestows 
on  all,  says  of  Littleton,  that  "  his  learning  was  various 
and  useful ;  his  skill  in  the  maxims  of  our  government, 
the  fundamental  laws  of  the  monarchy,  with  its  statutes 
and  customs,  singular;  his  experience  long  and  observing; 
his  integrity  unblemished  and  unbiassed  ;  his  eloquence 
powerful  and  majestic,  and  all  befitting  a  statesman  and  a 
Lord  Keeper."  But  Clarendon,  though  inclined  to  screen 
him,  having  some  regard  to  candor  and  truth,  is  obliged 
to  say — "  Being  a  man  of  grave  and  comely  presence,  his 
other  parts  were  overvalued.  From  the  time  he  had  the 
Great  Seal  he  seemed  to  be  out  of  his  element,  and  in 
some  perplexity  and  irresolution  in  the  Chancery  itself, 
though  he  had  great  experience  in  the  practices  and  pro- 
ceedings of  that  Court  ;  and  made  not  that  dispatch 
that  was  expected  at  the  Council  table;  and  in  the 
parliament  he  did  not  preserve  any  dignity,  and  ap- 
peared so  totally  dispirited  that  few  men  showed  any 


292  CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    I.         [1639. 

respect  to  him,  but  they  who  most  opposed  the  King, 
who  indeed  did  exceedingly  apply  themselves  to  him, 
and  were  with  equal  kindness  received  by  him." 

In  1683  there  was  published  a  folio  volume  of  his  Re- 
ports of  Cases  decided  in  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas 
and  Exchequer  in  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  Charles  I. 
They  are  in  Norman  French,  and  they  are  not  very  valu- 
able;  but  he  had  not  intended  them  for  publication,  and 
they  were  found  among  the  papers  of  his  brother,  Sir 
Timothy  Littleton,  a  Baron  of  the  Exchequer.1  The 
Lord  Keeper  never  aspired  to  the  honors  of  authorship. 

He  was  twice  married,  but  his  only  issue  was  a  daughter, 
and  his  title  became  extinct.  It  was  revived,  however,  in 
the  elder  branch  of  his  family, — Sir  Thomas  Littleton,  de- 
scended from  William,  the  eldest  son  of  the  founder, 
having  been  created  Lord  Lyttleton  in  the  reign  of  George 
II.  In  the  south  window  of  the  Inner  Temple  Hall  there 
is  a  fine  shield  of  the  Lord  Keeper's  arms,  with  fifteen 
quarterings,  distinguished  by  a  crescent  within  a  mullet, 
which  shows  him  to  have  been  of  the  third  house.* 


CHAPTER    LXVII. 

LIFE   OF   LORD   KEEPER    LANE. 

I  HAVE  now  to  introduce  to  the  reader  a  man,  who, 
although  he    was  never  installed    in    the   "  marble 
chair"   in   Westminster  Hall,  nor  ever  presided  on 
the  woolsack,  was  the  legitimate  successor  of  the  illustri- 
ous Lord  Chancellors  and  Lord  Keepers  whose  names  are 
known  to  fame.     I  regret  that  my  researches  respecting 
him  have  not  been  more  successful,  for  all  that  I  have  dis- 
covered  of  him  is  to  his  honor.     He  was  a  very  high 
royalist,  but  sincere,  firm,  and  consistent. 

1  The  title  is  curious  as  showing  the  strange  Gipsy  jargon  then  used  by 
English  lawyers:  "  LES  REPORTS  des  tres  Honorable  EDW.  SEIGNEUR  LIT- 
TLETON, BARON  DE  MOUNSLOW,  GUSTOS  de  le  Grand  Seale  d'Angliteur,  et  de 
ses  Majesty  pluis  HONORABLE  PRIVY  COUNCEL,  en  les  Courts  del  COMMON 
BANCK  et  EXCHEQUER  en  le  2,  3, 4,  5,  6,  7  ans  del  reign  de  Roy  CHARLES  le  I." 

*  I  am  indebted  to  Lord  Hatherton,  representative  of  the  second  house  of 
the  Littletons,  for  several  interesting  particulars  of.  the  Lord  Keeper,  which  I 
have  above  related. 


1641.]  SIR    RICHARD    LANE.  293 

His  father  was  Richard  Lane,  of  Courtenhall,  in  the 
county  of  Northampton,  who,  though  of  little  wealth,  was 
entitled  to  arms.1  Young  Lane  seems  to  have  raised  him- 
self from  obscurity  by  talent,  industry,  and  perseverance. 
Having  never  sat  in  parliament,  nor  been  engaged  in  any 
great  state  prosecution,  he  had  not  much  celebrity  till 
the  troubles  were  breaking  out ;  but  he  was  known  to 
discerning  men  as  an  admirable  lawyer,  as  well  as  a  steady 
friend  of  the  prerogative,  and  in  the  hope  that  he  might 
be  useful  to  the  Crown  in  the  proceedings  which  were 
now  anticipated,  he  was  made  Attorney  General  to  the 
Prince  of  Wales. 

Soon  after  this  promotion  the  Long  Parliament  met, 
and  Strafford  was  impeached  for  high  treason.  However 
much  Charles  wished  to  protect  him,  he  could  not  be  de- 
fended by  Banks  or  Herbert,  the  Attorney  and  Solicitor 
General  to  the  £rown, — and  Mr.  Lane  was  retained  as  his 
leading  counsel,  along  with  Gardiner,  Recorder  of  London, 
a  man  of  great  eminence  in  his  profession,  and  Loe  and 
Lightfoot,  two  promising  juniors. 

An  order  being  made  by  the  House  of  Lords  for  assign- 
ing them  and  giving  them  access  to  their  client,  the  Com- 
mons most  unreasonably  complained  that  such  a  step 
should  be  taken  without  their  consent,  and  inveighed 
with  much"  bitterness  against  those  lawyers  who  durst  be 
of  counsel  with  a  person  accused  by  them  of  high  treason. 
Nay,  one  member  went  so  far  as  to  move  that  they  should 
be  sent  for  and  proceeded  against  for  contempt :  but  it 
was  suggested  that  they  not  only  were  obliged  to  it  by 
the  honor  and  duty  of  their  profession,  but  that  they 
would  have  been  punishable  for  refusing  to  submit  to  the 
Lords'  order.  It  appeared  too  revolting  to  make  this 
matter  a  breach  of  privilege,  and  the  debate  dropped. 
Such  attempts  at  intimidation  have  ever  been  scorned  by 
tlie  bar  of  England,  and  Lane  and  his  brethren  were  now 
only  more  eager  and  determined  to  do  their  duty  at  every 
hazard. 

When  Strafford  was  brought  up  to  be  arraigned,  Lane 
made  a  heavy  complaint  of  the  length  of  the  articles  of 
impeachment,  which  contained  the  actions  of  the  Earl's 
service  for  thirteen  years  past,  both  in  England  and  Ire- 

1  Herald's  Hist,  of  Northamptons,  A.D.  1618,  c.  14. 


294  CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    I.       [1641. 

land,  and  he  prayed  further  time  to  prepare  the  answer. 
This,  after  considerable  difficulty,  he  obtained. 

During  the  seventeen  days  which  the  trial  lasted  on 
matter  of  fact,  Lane  and  the  other  counsel  were  not 
allowed  in  the  slightest  degree  to  interfere,  and  the  noble 
prisoner,  unassisted  carried  on  against  the  most  distin- 
guished lawyers  and  statesmen  of  the  country  party,  and 
against  public  prejudice  and  passion,  that  heroic  struggle 
which  seemed  to  render  the  result  doubtful,  and  which 
shed  such  a  luster  on  his  closing  scene. 

"  Now  private  pity  strove  with  public  hate, 
Reason  with  rage,  and  eloquence  with  fate ; 
So  did  he  move  the  passions,  some  were  known 
To  wish,  for  the  defense,  the  crime  their  own." 

He  then  prayed  that  he  might  be  heard  by  his  counsel 
upon  the  question,  whether  any  of  the  charges  amounted 
to  treason  in  point  of  law  ?  and  in  spite  of  a  stout  re- 
sistance by  the  managers  of  the  Commons,  who  felt  that 
the  case  was  going  against  them,  leave  was  given. 

The  i /th  of  April,  1641,  was  the  most  memorable  day 
in  the  life  of  Lane.  The  Commons  resentfully  refused  to 
attend  as  a  body,  but  almost  all  the  members  of  the 
House  were  present  from  curiosity.  The  Scottish  and 
Irish  Commissioners  filled  the  galleries ;  the  King  and  his 
family  were  known  to  be  in  the  royal  closet,  the  Prince 
occasionally  showing  himself  and  nodding  to  his  Attorney 
General ;  the  uninclosed  part  of  Westminster  Hall  was 
filled  by  an  an  immense  mass  of  anxious  spectators  from 
the  city  and  from  the  provinces,  once  strongly  incensed 
against  Strafford,  but  now  beginning  to  doubt  his  guilt, 
and  strongly  inclined  to  admire  and  pity  him.  How  in- 
significant in  comparison  was  the  trial  of  Warren  Hast- 
ings, of  which  we  have  heard  such  boastful  accounts  from 
our  fathers. 

Lane  surpassed  all  expectation.  Knowing  that  a  ma- 
jority of  the  Peers  were  now  favorable  to  his  client,  and 
being  unchecked  by  any  opponents, — although  he  pro- 
fessed to  carry  himself  with  all  content  and  satisfaction  to 
the  House  of  Commons,  and  to  abstain  from  touching  on 
the  merits  of  the  cause, — he  said  that  it  was  impossible 
to  argue  the  question  of  law  without  stating  the  facts 
(as  he  understood  them)  out  of  which  that  question  arose. 
Accordingly  he  took  a  short,  rapid,  and  dexterous  view 


1641.]  SIR    RICHARD    LANE.  295 

.of  the  evidence  adduced.  Having  then  shown  very  dis- 
tinctly and  incontrovertibly  that  none  of  the  charges 
amounted  to  treason  under  the  statute  of  Edward  IIL, 
which  provides  against  "  compassing  the  King's  death, 
levying  war  against  him,  violating  his  companion,  and 
counterfeiting  his  Great  Seal,"  but  is  entirely  silent  with 
respect  to  "subverting  the  fundamental  laws  of  the  king- 
dom," he  came  to  the  main  point  which  had  been  urged 
by  the  Commons,  "  whether  the  salvo  in  that  statute  as 
to  parliament  declaring  a  new  case  of  treason  could  apply 
to  a  parliamentary  impeachment?"  and  he  argued  to 
demonstration  that  this  power  could  only  be  exercised  by 
parliament  in  its  "  legislative  capacity," — that  the  House 
of  Lords  was  then  acting  judicially  according  to  promul- 
gated law, — and  that  the  Earl  must  be  acquitted,  unless 
he  could  be  proved  to  have  done  an  act  which  had  been 
legislatively  declared  treason  before  it  was  committed. 
He  fmally  contended  that,  assuming  the  subversion  of 
the  fundamental  laws  of  the  kingdom  to  be  high  treason, 
one  or  more  acts  of  injustice,  whether  maliciously  or 
ignorantly  done,  could  in  no  sense  be  called  the  subver- 
sion of  the  fundamental  laws;  for  otherwise,  possibly 
"  as  many  judges,  so  many  traitors,"  and  all  distinction 
and  degrees  of  offenses  being  confounded,  every  man  who 
transgresses  a  statute  may  lose  his  life  and  his  estate,  and 
bring  ruin  upon  his  posterity.  He  then  went  over  all  the 
cases  supposed  to  be  in  point,  from  that  of  John  de  la 
Pole  downwards,  showing  that,  in  the  worst  of  times,  no 
man  had  been  convicted  of  treason  except  upon  a  specific 
charge  of  having  violated  one  of  the  express  provisions 
of  the  Statute  of  Treasons — a  statute  made  to  guard  the 
subject  from  constructive  and  undefined  offenses  against 
the  government — a  statute  which  had  been  the  glory  of 
Englishmen — for  which  respect  had  been  professed  by  our 
most  arbitrary  sovereigns — but  which  was  now  to  be 
swept  away  by  those  who  avowed  themselves  the  cham- 
pions of  freedom,  and  the  reformers  of  all  abuses. 

He  sat  down  amidst  great  applause ;  and,  after  a  short 
address  from  the  Recorder  on  the  same  side, — it  being  as 
late  as  between  two  and  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon, 
the  House  adjourned.1 

An  acquittal  was  now  considered  certain  ;  but  in  the 

. '  3  St.  Tr.  1472.      2  Parl.  Hist.  732. 


296  CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    I.       [1643. 

night  the  parliamentary  leaders  entirely  changed  their 
plan  of  proceeding.  Instead  of  praying  the  judgment  of 
the  Lords  upon  the  articles  of  impeachment,  they  said 
they  intended  not  to  offer  any  reply  to  the  argument  of 
law  made  by  Mr.  Lane,  it  being  below  their  dignity  to 
contend  with  a  private  lawyer;  and,  next  morning,  they 
put  up  Sir  Arthur  Hazelrig,  "an  absurd,  bold  man,"  a 
pupil  of  Pym,  and  employed  by  the  party  on  any  des- 
perate occasion,  to  prefer  a  bill  in  the  House  of  Commons 
"  for  the  attainder  of  the  Earl  of  Strafford  of  high 
treason." 

This  bill  was  opposed  by  Seldon  and  the  more  moderate 
lawyers  on  the  liberal  side,  and  could  hardly  have  been 
pushed  through  but  for  the  newly-discovered  evidence 
brought  forward  by  Sir  Harry  Vane  respecting  Strafford's 
declaration  in  council,  "  that  the  King  having  tried  the 
affection  of  his  people,  was  absolved  from  all  rule  of  gov- 
ernment; and  that  the  army  of  Ireland  might  reduce  this 
kingdom  to  obedience."  The  effect  was  heightened  by 
the  disgraceful  opinion  obtained  from  the  trembling 
Judges,  that  this  charge  amounted  to  high  treason. 

When  the  bill  came  up  to  the  Lords,  Lane  having  no 
longer  an  opportunity  of  being  heard,  Oliver  St.  John, 
who  had  accepted  and  retained  the  title  of  "  King's  So- 
licitor General,"  but  was  the  most  furious  of  the  prosecu- 
tors of  Strafford,  boldly  attempted  to  answer  Lane's 
argument :  and,  feeling  that  he  had  failed,  he  unblushingly 
said,  "  that  in  that  way  of  bill,  private  satisfaction  to  each 
man's  conscience  was  sufficient  ;  and  why  should  they 
take  such  trouble  about  law  in  such  a  case?  It  was  true 
we  give  law  to  hares  and  deer,  because  they  are  beasts  of 
chase  ;  but  it  was  never  accounted  either  cruelty  or  foul 
play  to  knock  foxes  and  wolves  on  the  head,  where  they 
may  be  found,  because  they  are  beasts  of  prey."  ' 

After  Strafford's  conviction,  Lane  remained  in  London 
quietly  pursuing  his  profession,  and  privately  advising  the 
Royalists,  till  the  King,  by  proclamation  under  the  Great 
Seal,  having  ordered  all  the  law  Courts  to  be  adjourned  to 
Oxford,  and  the  parliament,  by  an  ordinance,  having  re- 
quired them  to  continue  sitting  at  Westminster,  the  caval- 
ier lawyers  thought  they  could  no  longer  publicly  prac- 
tice in  the  metropolis  without  acknowledging  the  usurped 
1  3  St.  Tr.  1477. 


1644.]  SIR    RICHARD    LANE.  297 

authority  of  the  Roundheads.  While  some  of  them  took 
to  conveyancing  and  chamber  business,  Lane  resolved  to 
go  to  Oxford,  where,  although  there  was  not  likely  to  be 
much  pabulum  for  barristers,  he  should  at  least  testify  his 
respect  for  the  King's  proclamation,  and  his  devotion  to 
the  royal  cause.  He  had  a  strict  private  intimacy  with 
Whitelock,  afterwards  Keeper  of  the  Great  Seal,  although 
they  were  on  opposite  sides  in  politics  ;  and  to  him  he 
intrusted  his  books  and  the  furniture  in  his  chambers  in 
the  Inner  Temple,  which,  in  the  disturbed  state  of  the 
country,  he  could  not  carry  along  with  him.  On  his  arri- 
val at^Oxford,  his  loyalty  was  rewarded  with  the  honor  of 
knighthood. 

He  found  Lord  Keeper  Littleton,  with  the  Great  Seal, 
sitting  in  the  Philosophy  Schools  ;  and  two  or  three 
Judges  having  joined,  they  went  through  the  form  of 
holding  the  Courts  to  which  they  respectively  belonged. 
But  there  was  no  one  to  represent  the  Exchequer,  and 
the  office  of  Chief  Baron  being  vacant,  it  was  offered  to 
Lane,  who  was  considered  at  the  head  of  the  Oxford  bar. 
He  could  itot  expect  his  salary  to  be  very  regularly  paid, 
but  he  did  not  sacrifice  a  very  lucrative  practice,  and  he 
accepted  the  offer. 

To  be  regularly  installed  as  a  Judge,  he  was  first  to  be 
raised  to  the  dignity  of  the  coif;  and,  accordingly,  in  the 
roll  of  the  proceedings  under  the  Great  Seal  at  Oxford, 
we  have  the  following  entry  : — 

"  1643-4,  January  25.  Md.  that  Sir  Richard  Lane,  Kt., 
the  Prince's  Highness'  Attorney,  made  his  appearance  the 
first  day  of  Hilary  term  at  the  Chancery  bar  in  the  Phi- 
losophy Schools  at  Oxford,  and  was  there  sworn  a  Sergeant- 
at-law,  his  writ  being  returnable  Ocfobis  Hillarij  before  the 
Right  Honble  Edward  Lord  Littleton,  Lord  Keeper  of  the 
Great  Seal  of  England,  in  open  court,  Sir  J.  Colepeper 
Master  of  the  Rolls,  Dr.  Littleton  and  Sir  Thomas  Main- 
waring,  Masters  of  the  Chancery,  being  present,  and  the 
oaths  of  supremacy  and  allegiance,  and  the  oath  of  a 
Sergeant-at-law,  were  read  to  him  by  the  Clerk  of  the 
Crown." 

The  following  day  he  was  sworn  in  as  Chief  Baron  in  a 
corner  of  the  Schools  called  the  "  Court  of  Exchequer," 
and  likewise  received  the  honor  of  knighthood,  the  Lord 
Keeper  complimenting  him  on  his  loyalty  and  learning, 


298  CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    I.       [1644. 

which  had  procured  him  such  special  marks  of  the  King's 
favor — and  the  new  Chief  Baron  expressing  a  hope  that 
notwithstanding  the  recent  successes  of  the  rebels  in 
England,  from  the  assistance  of  our  loyal  brethren  in 
Scotland  and  Ireland,1  they  would  speedily  be  put  down, 
and  his  Majesty  would  be  acknowledged  as  God's  Vice- 
gerent throughout  all  his  dominions. 

At  this  time  there  was  a  large  batch  of  promotions  at 
Oxford — Hyde  being  sworn  in  Chancellor  of  the  Ex- 
chequer, Cottington,Lord  Treasurer,  Brerewood,  a  Justice 
of  the  King's  Bench,  Colepeper,  Master  of  the  Rolls  and 
a  Peer,  Gardiner,  Solicitor  General,  to  say  nothing  of 
several  Masters  extraordinary  in  the  High  Court  of  Chan- 
cery8— and  I  dare  say,  on  the  first  day  of  the  following 
Term  (although  I  do  not  find  the  fact  recorded,  and 
therefore  do  not  venture  to  assert  it)  there  was  a  grand 
levde  at  the  Lord  Keeper's  rooms  in  Christ  Church,  and  a 
procession  from  thence  to  the  Philosophy  Schools,  where 
the  Courts  were  opened  in  due  form,  the  Counsel  were 
asked  if  they  had  anything  to  move,  and  the  Judges  rose 
early — having  at  least  this  consolation,  that  fhey  could 
not  be  reproached  with  the  accumulation  of  arrears. 

But  Lane  was  soon  after  employed  in  real  and  very 
serious  business.  After  the  battle  of  Marston  Moor,  the 
surrender  of  Newcastle,  and  the  third  battle  of  Newbury, 
the  Royalists  were  so  much  disheartened  that  a  negotia- 
tion for  peace  was  proposed  to  the  parliament,  and 
Charles,  instead  of  styling  them  as  hitherto  "  the  Lords 
and  Commons  of  Parliament  assembled  at  Westminster," 
was  induced  to  address  them  as  "  the  Lords  and  Commons 
assembled  in  the  Parliament  of  England  at  Westminster." 
The  proposal  could  not  be  refused  without  incurring 
popular  odium,  and  Uxbridge,  then  within  the  parlia- 
mentary lines,  was  named  as  the  place  of  conference. 

The  King  sent  a  list  of  his  commissioners — "  Sir  Richard 
Lane,  Knight,  Chief  Baron  of  the  Exchequer,  Hyde, 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  Gardiner,  Solicitor  General;" 
and  the  others  with  the  dignities  lately  conferred  upon 
them.  The  parliament  took  offense,  having  declared  on 
Littleton's  flight  to  York  with  the  Great  Seal,  that  all 
patents  afterwards  passing  under  it  should  be  void,  and 

1  Alluding  to  Montrose  and  Glamorgan. 

2  Doquets  of  patents  at  Oxon.  Temp.  Car.  r. 


1645.]  SIR    RICHARD    LANE.  299 

they  were  particularly  hurt  that  any  one  should  be  de- 
nominated "  Solicitor*  General  "  except  their  beloved  St. 
John,  who  under  that  title  had  been  directing  all  their 
movements,  and  whom  they  intended  to  employ  as  their 
commissioner  in  this  very  treaty.  They  insisted  therefore 
that  Lane  and  the  rest  of  the  King's  commissioners  should 
be  mentioned  in  the  pass  and  in  the  full  powers  conferring 
authority  upon  them  to  negotiate  for  the  King,  simply 
by  their  names,  without  any  office  or  dignity  as  belonging 
to  them.  This  concession  was  made,  and  the  royal  am- 
bassadors arrived  at  Uxbridge  with  a  commission  under 
the  Great  Seal  which  was  rejected,  and  another  under  the 
King's  sign-manual,  which  was  recognized  as  sufficient. 
The  great  bone  of  contention  was  still  the  militia,  and 
Lane  proved  very  clearly  that  by  the  ancient  constitution 
of  England  the  power  of  the  sword  belonged  exclusively 
to  the  Sovereign,  and  that  there  could  be  no  military 
force"  lawfully  in  the  kingdom  except  under  his  warrant. 
The  parliamentary  commissioners  did  not  much  combat 
this  law,  but  peremptorily  insisted  that  the  command 
both  of  the  army  and  the  navy  should  be  in  the  two 
Houses, — a  precaution  indispensably  necessary  for  the 
safety  of  those  who  had  been  standing  out  for  the  liberties 
of  the  nation.  Twenty  days  were  ineffectually  consumed 
in  such  discussions — when  the  conference  broke  up.  The 
pass  was  to  expire  next  day,  and  as  Lane  and  his  col- 
leagues might  require  two  days  to  perform  their  journey 
to  Oxford,  they  having  spent  two  days  in  coming  thence 
to  Uxbridge,  they  were  told  by  the  parliamentary  com- 
missioners that  they  might  safely  make  use  of  another 
day,  of  which  no  advantage  should  be  taken ;  but  they 
were  unwilling  to  run  any  hazard,  and  they  were  in  their 
coaches  so  early  in  the  morning  that  they  reached  Oxford 
that  night  and  kissed  the  hand  of  the  King, — who  re- 
ceived them  very  graciously,  and  thanked  them  for  the 
pains  they  had  taken  in  his  cause.  His  Majesty  was 
particularly  pleased  with  the  zeal  and  ability  manifested 
by  the  Chief  Baron  in  supporting  his  constitutional  right 
to  the  power  of  the  sword,  and  marked  him  for  further 
promotion. 

Lane  remained  at  Oxford  with  the  sinecure  office  of 
Head  of  the  Court  of  Exchequer  during  the  disastrous 
campaign  of  1645.  The  gleam  of  hope  from  Montrose's 


300          CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    I.         [1645 

victories  in  Scotland  was  extinguished  by  the  news  of 
the  fatal  field  at  Naseby,  the  surrender  of  Bristol  by 
Prince  Rupert,  and  the  defeat  of  the  royalists  at  Chester 
and  Sherburn.  In  the  midst  of  these  disasters  Lord 
Keeper  Littleton  had  been  suddenly  carried  off,  while 
making  an  effort  to  provide  for  the  safety  of  Oxford,  now 
threatened  on  every  side. 

The  Great  Seal  was  little  thought  of  till  the  King  made 
good  his  retreat  from  Nev/ark,  and  took  up  his  winter 
quarters  in  this  city.  He  still  displayed  unshaken  firm- 
ness ;  the  growing  difference  between  the  Presbyterians 
and  Independents  held  out  a  prospect  of  his  being  able  to 
obtain  favorable  terms  from  either  of  these  powerful 
parties,  and  he  looked  forward  to  important  assistance 
from  Scotland  and  Ireland,  by  which  he  might  be  in  a 
situation  again  to  make  head  against  the  parliament. 
Whether  for  negotiation  or  action,  it  was  important  that 
he  should  keep  up  the  appearance  of  a  regular  govern- 
ment ; — and  that  he  might  make  use  of  the  Great  Seal  for 
proclamations  and  grants,  he  resolved  to  appoint  a  new 
Lord  Keeper. 

If  he  had  had  a  wider  choice,  he  could  not  have  selected 
a  better  man  than  the  Lord  Chief  Baron,  and  when  he 
proposed  this  appointment  it  was  approved  by  the  whole 
Council.  Accordingly,  on  the  23rd  of  October,  "  Sir 
RICHARD  LANE,  Knight,  was  sworn  at  the  Philosophy 
Schools,  in  Oxford,  into  the  office  of  Lord  Keeper  of  the 
Great  Seal  of  England,  taking  the  oaths  of  supremacy  and 
allegiance,  the  oath  of  office,  together  with  the  oath  ac- 
cording to  the  statute  lately  made  for  issuing  forth  of 
writs  of  summons  of  parliament,  the  Lord  Treasurer  and 
divers  others  being  then  present."  l  It  has  been  said, 
that  "  the  new  Lord  Keeper  had  neither  a  court,  suitors, 
nor  salary;  ""  but  this  is  not  altogether  correct,  for  on  the 
1 7th  of  November  following,  "a  grant  was  made  by  patent 
to  the  Right  Honorable  Sir  Richard  Lane,  Knight,  Lord 
Keeper  of  the  Great  Seal  of  England,  of  23^.  per  diem  for 
his  diet,  and  of  £,26  13^.  4^.  per  annum  for  a  winter  livery, 
and  .£13  6s.  ^d.  for  a  summer  livery,  -and  £300  per  an- 
num pension  out  of  the  Hanaper,  and  of  all  such 
part  of  finable  writs  to  be  answered  by  the  Cursitors 
as  former  Lord  Keepers  have  had,  and  of  all  other  fees 

1  Doquets  of  patents  at  Oxford,  Temp.  Car.  I.         *  Parke's  Chanc.  117. 


1646.]  SIR    RICHARD    LANE.  301 

and  allowances  belonging  to  the  office  of  Lord  Keeper; 
the  said  allowances  to  begin  upon  and  from  the  3<Dth 
day  of  August  last,  and  so  forward,  so  long  as  he  shall 
continue  in  the  office."  !  However,  as  all  these  allowances 
were  to  come  from  fees  on  patents  and  writs,  it  is  to 
be  feared  that  the  Lord  Keeper's  "  diet,  liveries,  and 
pension "  were  poorly  provided  for,  and  that  having  al- 
ready contributed  to  the  supply  of  the  King's  wants  the 
small  remnant  of  his  private  fortune,  he  now  found  it 
difficult  to  conceal  the  poverty  and  misery  with  which  he 
had  to  struggle.  Only  three  patents  are  recorded  as  hav- 
ing passed  the  Great  Seal  after  his  appointment,  one  to 
make  Sir  Thomas  Gardiner  Attorney  General,  another  to 
make  Sir  Jeffrey  Palmer  Solicitor  General,  and  the  third 
for  authorizing  the  Master  of  the  Rolls,  and  others,  to 
hear  causes  in  Chancery  in  the  absence  of  the  Lord 
Keeper. 

In. the  following  spring,  Charles  found  that  the  offers 
made  to  him  were  only  "  devices  to  amuse  the  royal  bird 
till  the  fowlers  had  inclosed  him  in  their  toils."  He  re- 
solved, therefore,  rather  than  be  taken  prisoner  by  Fair- 
fax and  Cromwell,  who  were  marching  to  lay  siege  to  Ox- 
ford, to  fly  to  the  Scotch  army  encamped  before  Newark, 
and  to  throw  himself  upon  the  generosity  of  his  country- 
men. With  a  view  to  his  flight,  and  that  some  order 
might  be  preserved  for  the  safety  of  his  friends  when  he 
was  gone,  he  appointed  a  Council  "for the  better  manage- 
ment of  the  garrison  and  defense  of  the  city,"  and  placed 
the  Lord  Keeper  at  the  head  of  it. 

Great  was  the  consternation  in  Oxford  on  the  morning 
of  the  27th  of  April,  when  the  King  was  not  to  be  found, 
and  it  was  known  that  he  had  escaped  at  midnight,  dis- 
guised as  a  servant,  following  his  supposed  master,  Ash- 
burnham,  on  the  road  to  Henley. 

Lane,  however,  behaved  with  courage  and  constancy, — 
resolved  that  if  the  place  could  not  be  successfully  de- 
fended, it  should  not  capitulate  except  on  honorable 
terms.  Cromwell,  on  hearing  of  the  King's  escape,  em- 
ployed himself  in  schemes,  by  bribing  the  Scots,  to  get 
possession  of  his  person,  and  Fairfax  did  not  arrive  before 
Oxford  till  the  beginning  of  June.  During  the  war,  this 
city  had  been  rendered  one  of  the  strongest  fortresses  of 

1  "  Te  apud  Oxon.  xvii°.  Novemb.  A°.  R.R».  Caroli,  xxi°."     Doquets,  &c. 


302  CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    I.       [1646. 

the  kingdom.  On  three  sides,  the  waters  of  the  Isis  and 
the  Cherwell  spreading  over  the  adjoining  country,  kept 
the  enemy  at  a  considerable  distance,  and  on  the  north  it 
was  covered  by  a  succession  of  works  erected  by  skillful 
engineers.  The  garrison  now  amounted  to  near  5,000 
men,  the  last  remnant  of  the  royal  army,  and  a  plentiful 
supply  of  stores  and  provisions  had  been  collected  in  con- 
templation of  another  campaign.  A  stout  resistance  might 
have  been  made;  but  without  the  possibility  of  relief,  it 
must  have  been  hopeless,  and  all  deliberation  on  the  sub- 
ject was  put  an  end  to  by  an  order  from  the  King  ad- 
dressed to  the  Governors  of  Oxford,  Lichfield,  Worcester, 
and  Wallingford,  the  only  places  in  the  kingdom  that  still 
held  out  for  him,  whereby  "the  more  to  evidence  the  re- 
ality of  his  intentions  of  settling  a  happy  and  firm  peace, 
he  required  them  upon  honorable  terms  to  quit  those 
places,  and  to  disband  all  the  forces  under  their  com- 
mand." 

The  terms  for  the  surrender  of  Oxford  were  negotiated 
by  Lane.  He  wished  much  to  have  inserted  an  article, 
stipulating  that  he  should  have  leave  to  carry  away  with 
him  the  Great  Seal,  the  badge  of  his  office,  together  with 
the  Seals  of  the  other  Courts  of  justice,  and  the  swords  of 
state,  which  had  been  brought  to  Oxford ;  but  to  this 
Fairfax  most  peremptorily  objected,  under  the  express 
orders  of  the  parliament,  by  whom  they  were  considered 
the  emblems  of  sovereignty.  Rather  than  stand  the 
horrors  of  an  assault,  Lane  signed  the  capitulation,  by 
which  the  Seals,  along  with  the  swords  of  state,  were  all 
delivered  up.1  -* 

On  the  3rd  of  July,  the  parliament  with  loud  exultation 
received  a  letter  from  Fairfax,  signifying  that  he  had  sent 
by  the  Judge  Advocate  of  the  army  the  several  seals  and 
swords  of  state,  surrendered  at  Oxford,  under  the  fourth 

1  "  Articles  of  Agreement  concluded  and  agreed  on  by  his  Excellency  Sir 
Thomas  Fairfax,  Knt.,  general  of  the  forces  raised  by  the  parliament,  on  the 
one  party,  and  the  Right  Honorable  Sir  Richard  Lane,  Knt.,  Lord  Keeper 
of  the  Great  Seal  of  England,  &c.,  for  and  concerning  the  rendering  of  the 
garrison  of  Oxford." 

Art.  IV.  "  That  the  seals  called  the  Great  Seal,  Privy  Seal,  the  signets,  and 
the  seals  of  the  King's  Bench,  Exchequer,  Court  of  Wards,  Duchy,  Admi- 
ralty, and  Prerogative  as  also  the  swords  of  state,  shall  at  such  time  and  in 
the  presence  of  two  such  persons  as  the  General  Sir  Thomas  Fairfax  shall 
appoint,  be  locked  up  in  a  chest,  and  left  in  the  public  library." —  Whit. 
Mem.  210. 


1646.]  SIR    RICHARD    LANE.  303 

article  of  the  treaty,  to  be  disposed  of  as  the  two  Houses 
should  direct,  and  an  order  was  immediately  made,  "  that 
the  King's  Great  Seal,  sent  by  the  general  from  Oxon,  be 
defaced  and  broken."  In  the  mean  time,  those  seals  were 
all  delivered  to  Speaker  Lenthal,  to  remain  in  his  custody 
till  the  House  should  call  for  them. 

The  ceremony  of  breaking  the  King's  Great  Seal  took 
place  with  much  parade  on  the  nth  of  August,  the  day 
fixed  for  the  installation  of  the  parliamentary  Lord 
Keeper.  Lenthal  appearing  at  the  head  of  the  Commons, 
produced  it  at  the  bar  of  the  Lords.  A  smith  being  then 
sent  for,  it  was  by  him  openly  defaced  and  broken,  amidst 
much  cheering, — and  the  fragments  were  equally  divided 
between  the  Speakers  of  the  two  Houses. 

I  should  have  been  delighted  to  relate  that  Charles's 
last  Lord  Keeper  lived  in  an  honorable  retirement  during 
the  rule  of  those  whom  he  considered  rebels  and  usurpers, 
and  survived  to  see  the  restoration  of  the  monarchy 
under  the  son  of  his  sainted  master;  but  I  regret  to  say 
that  I  can  find  no  authentic  trace  of  him  after  the  capitu- 
lation of  Oxford.  From  the  language  of  Lord  Clarendon, 
it  might  be  inferred  that  he  did  not  long  survive  that 
misfortune,1  while  others  represent  that  he  followed  Prince 
Charles  to  the  Continent,  and  died  in  exile.3 

Considering  Sir  Richard  Lane's  spotless  integrity,  and 
uniform  adherence  to  his  principles, — notwithstanding  his 
comparative  obscurity  and  his  poverty,  he  is  more  to  be 
honored  than  many  of  his  predecessors  and  successors 
who  have  left  behind  them  a  brilliant  reputation,  with 
ample  possessions  and  high  dignities  to  their  posterity. 


Although  the  life  of  Charles  was  prolonged  near  two 
years  and  a  half  from  the  time  when  Lane  surrendered 

1  Hist.  Reb.  part  iii.  778. 

5  By  the  kindness  of  my  friends  at  the  Heralds'  Office,  I  am  now  enabled 
to  clear  up  this  difficulty.  There  is  extant  a  commission  to  the  Lady  Marga- 
ret, his  widow,  dated  22  April,  1651,  to  administer  to  his  effects,  stating  that 
he  had  died  in  France. 

Lady  Margaret  survived  until  1669,  when  she  was  buried  in  Kingsthorpe 
Church,  where  there  is  this  inscription  : — 

"  Here  lieth  the  body  of  the  Lady  Margaret  Lane,  late  wife  to  the  Right 
Honorable  Sir  Richard  Lane,  Lord  Keeper  of  the  Great  Seal  of  England  to 
K.  Charles  the  First  and  K.  Charles  the  Second  ;  who  dyed  in  his  banyshment 
for  his  loyalty  to  the  Crown.  She  departed  the  22  day  of  April,  1669." — See 
Brydge's  Hist  of  Northampton,  i.  412 


304  CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    I.        [1646. 

the  Great  Seal  to  the  parliament,  yet  he  never  appointed 
another  Chancellor  or  Lord  Keeper,  and  his  reign  may  be 
considered  as  having  then  closed.  We  must,  therefore, 
now  take  a  short  retrospect  of  the  changes  which  the  law 
underwent  while  he  was  upon  the  throne. 

In  consequence  of  the  abrupt  dissolution  and  long  in- 
termission of  parliaments,  only  fifty-one  public  acts  were 
added  to  the  statute-book  in  this  reign,  and  by  none  of 
these  was  the  letter  of  the  law  materially  altered.  But  an 
unspeakable  improvement  was  introduced  in  the  practical 
administration  of  justice  by  the  suppression  of  the  Star 
Chamber.  Not  only  was  the  prehension  of  legislating  by 
proclamation  gone  with  the  power  of  enforcing  it,  but 
trial  by  jury  was  secured  to  all  who  were  charged  with 
common-law  offenses,  and  there  was  much  less  danger  of 
cruelty  in  the  infliction  of  discretionary  punishment  when 
the  sentence  was  not  to  be  pronounced  by  the  ministers 
of  the  Crown,  who  had  instituted  the  prosecution,  and  who 
tried  to  outbid  each  other  for  royal  favor  by  the  severity 
they  displayed. 

The  King,  on  the  petition  of  the  two  Houses  agreed  to 
make  out  the  Judges'  patents  quamdiu  se  bene  gesserint, 
instead  of  durante  bene  placito ;  but  this  concession,  not 
being  secured  by  statute,  was  disregarded  by  his  sons,  and 
the  independence  of  the  Judges  was  not  properly  pro- 
vided for  till  the  reign  of  King  William  III.1  There  is 
no  ground,  however,  for  the  vulgar  error,  that  the  Judges 
were  all  removable  at  the  will  of  the  Sovereign  till  the 
reign  of  King  George  III.,  who,  in  reality,  acquired 
his  popularity  on  this  subject  merely  by  taking  away 
the  power  of  his  successors  on  their  first  coming  to  the 
throne. 

The  Triennial  Act"  was  a  noble  law,  and  framed  for  the 
real  benefit  of  the  Crown  as  well  as  of  the  public,  not- 
withstanding the  stringent  clauses  authorizing  elections, 
on  a  certain  contingency,  without  the  King's  writ.  Had 
it  not  been  inconsiderately  repealed  by  Lord  Clarendon, 
the  Stuart  dynasty  might  long  have  ruled  over  England. 

Considering  the  insane  conduct  of  the  Bishops  during 

the   first  two   Stuart   reigns,  so  severely  condemned   by 

Lord  Clarendon  and  all  true  friends  of  the  monarchy,  it  is 

not  wonderful  that  the  act  should  have  passed  for  depriv- 

1  13  W.  3,  c.  2.  »  16  Car.  i,  c.  7. 


1642.]  SIR    RICHARD    LANE.  305 

ing  them  of  their  seats  in  the  House  of  Lords :'  but  I  can 
not  consider  this  a  permanent  improvement  in  the  consti- 
tution ;  for  hereditary  honors  and  wealth  are  so  enervat- 
ing, that  the  Upper  House  could  scarcely  maintain  its 
position  without  the  infusion  of  fresh  blood  from  the 
church  as  well  as  the  law ;  and  by  reason  of  the  talents 
and  character  of  the  right  reverend  bench,  its  proceedings 
are  more  effective  and  more  respected.  I  therefore  re- 
joice that  this  act  was  condemned  at  the  Restoration,  and 
I  trust  that  there  never  will  be  occasion  for  repealing  the 
act  by  which  it  was  repealed. 

The  Courts  of  common  law  were  filled  with  able  Judges 
in  this  reign,  but  their  decisions  are  badly  reported  by 
Crooke,  and  others  still  more  loose  and  jndiscriminating; 
and  till  Saunders  arose  there  was  no  legitimate  successor 
of  Plowden  and  Coke. 

Equity  as  a  system  made  little  progress.  Coventry  was 
contented  to  dispose  of  each  case  that  came  before  him 
according  to  his  notions  of  what  was  right,  without  laying 
down  any  broad  general  principles ;  and  Finch,  Littleton, 
and  Lane  were  too  much  occupied  with  political  broils 
to  think  of  judicial  improvement.11 


CHAPTER  LXVIII. 

LORD     KEEPERS    OF   THE    PARLIAMENTARY    GREAT    SEAL. 
DURING  THE  COMMONWEALTH,  TILL  THE  FIRST  AP- 
POINTMENT OF  LORD  COMMISSIONER  WHITELOCK. 

WHEN    Lord    Keeper    Littleton  fled    to  York  Mi- 
May,     1642,    the     parliamentary    leaders     were 
thrown  into  perplexity.  Knowing  the  importance 
of  the  Great  Seal,  they  had  cultivated  him  very  assidu- 
ously, and,  from  his  vote  upon  the  militia  ordinance,  they 
believed  he  had  so  completely  committed  himself  against 
the  Court  that  he  must  remain  entirely  under  their  control. 
After  that  occurrence,  the  precaution  they  had   contem- 
plated of  ordering  the  Great  Seal   to   be  kept  in  some 
secure  place,    appeared   unnecessary.      They   were   thus 

1  16  Car.  I,  c.  27. 

4  See  Tothill  ;  Nelson's  Chancery ;  Reports  in  Chancery,  vol.  i.  ;  God- 
bolt's  Reports  ;  Popham's  Reports, 
in. — 20 


306     CHANCELLORS  OF  COMMONWEALTH.  [1642. 

quite  unprepared  for  the  misfortune  of  this  machine  of 
government  being  transferred  from  them  to  the  King. 

While  he  now  had  the  advantage  of  duly  issuing  what- 
ever grants,  commissions,  or  proclamations  he  might  think 
proper,  they  foresaw  that  the  administration  of  justice 
would  be  materially  impeded  in  the  metropolis, — that 
they  could  not  even  have  new  elections  to  fill  up  vacancies 
in  the  House  of  Commons, — and  that  they  could  not  do 
any  act  of  state  to  which  the  Great  Seal  was  necessary. 
Having  assumed  the  exercise  of  supreme  power,  their 
policy  was  to  carry  on  the  government  in  the  King's 
name,  according  to  the  forms  of  the  constitution. 

Encouraged  by  Littleton's  submissive  petition  to  the 
House  of  Lords,  they  thought  it  possible  that  he  might 
be  playing  a  double  part ;  and,  by  way  of  experiment, 
they  sent  some  "  proclamation  writs "  to  Nottingham, 
where  he  then  was  with  the  King,- — about  the  time 
when  the  royal  standard  was  first  raised  there, — and  he 
was  required  to  seal  them  according  to  the  duty  of  his 
office. 

Littleton,  still  dreading  an  open  rupture  with  the  par- 
liament,— as  an  equivocating  excuse  wrote  the  following 
letter  to  the  Clerk  of  the  Crown  in  Chancery : — "  Sir,  I 
could  not  seal  the  proclamation  writs  you  sent  unto  me 
from  the  Lords,  for  that  I  never  could  have  the  Seal 
sithence  the  receipt  of  them  until  this  hour." 

After  several  conferences  between  the  two  Houses, 
who  wished  to  throw  all  the  odium  upon  the  King,  it  was 
resolved  to  set  forth  "  a  declaration  showing  to  the  people 
the  grievous  obstruction  of  justice  by  the  taking  and  de- 
taining the  Great  Seal  out  of  the  custody  of  the  Lord 
Keeper."  Committees  were  likewise  appointed  to  con- 
sider "  how  these  and  the  like  inconveniences  may  be 
remedied  and  prevented  for  the  future  ;"  and  that  of  the 
Commons  was  particularly  to  report  upon  a  method  "  how 
the  House  may  be  replenished  of  their  members  notwith- 
standing writs  for  a  new  election  instead  of  those  cast  out 
of  the  House  cannot  be  sealed  as  is  usual." ' 

The  declaration  accordingly  came  out,  heavily  com- 
plaining of  the  infraction  of  the  clause  in  Magna  Charta 
— "  Nulli  negabimus,  nulli  deferemus  justitiam  vel  rec- 
tum ;"  but  a  long  time  elapsed  before  any  measure  to 
1  Lords'  Journ.  v.  343.  Com.  Journ.  ii.  771. 


1643.]  THE    SIX    COMMISSIONERS.  307 

meet  the  evil  could  be  agreed  upon.  It  was  vain  to  ex- 
pect that  proceedings  which  had  immemorially  been  un- 
der the  Great  Seal  could  take  place  without  its  authority, 
and  many  lawyers  were  startled  by  the  express  enact- 
ment in  the  statute  25  Edw.  III.,  that  "  to  counterfeit  the 
King's  Great  Seal  shall  be  High  Treason  " — an  enactment 
which  might  have  been  very  inconveniently  put  in  force 
against  all  those  who  voted  for  a  new  Great  Seal,  should 
the  royal  party  prevail.  They  therefore  contented  them- 
selves for  the  present  with  passing  an  ordinance  to  make 
void  all  patents  and  grants  under  the  King's  Great  Seal 
since  the  time  it  ceased  to  attend  the  parliament,  and 
forbidding  obedience  to  any  proclamation  for  removing 
the  Courts  of  Justice  from  Westminster.1 

The  inconvenience,  however,  was  more  and  more  se- 
verely felt,  particularly  by  the  professors  of  the  law.  Says 
Whitelock,  "  The  courts  of  justice  were  not  yet  open, 
and  there  was  no  practice  for  lawyers"  *  About  this  time, 
there  came  out  a  pamphlet,  which  caused  a  considerable 
sensation,  entitled  "  St.  Hilary's  Tears  shed  upon  all  Pro- 
fessors of  the  Law,  from  the  Judge  to  the  Pettifogger,  for 
want  of  a  stirring  Term,  written  by  one  of  his  Secretaries 
that  had  nothing  else  to  do."  s 

At  last,  in  May,  1643,  Oliver  St.  John,  as  yet  styled 
"  SolicitorGeneral,"  and  Sergeant  Wilde,  the  two  boldest 
lawyers  on  the  popular  side,  resolved  upon  a  strenuous 
effort  to  have  a  new  Great  Seal,  and  they  induced  the 
Commons,  without  a  division,  to  agree  to  the  following 
resolutions  : — I.  "  That  the  Great  Seal  of  England  ought, 
by  the  laws  of  the  land,  to  attend  the  parliament."  2. 
"  That  the  Great  Seal  of  England  doth  not  attend  the 
parliament  as  it  ought  to  do."  3.  "  That  by  reason  thereof, 
the  commonwealth  hath  suffered  many  mischiefs,  tending 
to  the  destruction  of  the  King,  parliament,  and  kingdom." 
4.  "  That  it  is  the  duty  of  both  houses  to  provide  a  speedy 
remedy  for  these  mischiefs."  Then  came  the  5th  and 

1  Jan.  21,  1643.  *  Whit.  Mem.  71. 

3  Thus  it  began :  "  A  term  so  like  a  vacation  ;  the  prime  Court,  the  Chan- 
cery (wherein  the  clerks  had  wont  to  dash  their  clients  out  of  countenance 
with  long  dashes)  ;  the  examiners  to  take  the  depositions  in  hyperboles,  and 
roundabout  Robinhood  circumstances  with  saids  and  aforesaids,  to  enlarge  the 
number  of  sheets  ;" — alluding  to  the  abuse  which  it  has  never  yet  been  found 
possible  to  correct,  of  allowing  costs  according  to  the  number  of  written 
words,  by  so  much  a  folio. 


308  CHANCELLORS  OF  COMMONWEALTH.  [1643. 
startling  resolution,  "  THAT  A  GREAT  SEAL  OF  ENGLAND 

SHALL  BE  FORTHWITH  MADE  TO  ATTEND  THE  PARLIAMENT, 
FOR  THE  DISPATCH  OF  THE  AFFAIRS  OF  THE  PARLIAMENT 
AND  THE  KINGDOM." 

But  a  strong  opposition  sprung  up  to  this  proceeding, 
— the  more  cautious  members  suggesting  that  it  would 
be  a  direct  renunciation  of  all  allegiance  to  the  Crown, — 
that  the  two  Houses  still  acknowledged  Charles  for  their 
sovereign,  and  were  in  treaty  with  him  for  a  peaceable  set- 
tlement of  all  differences,  notwithstanding  his  misgovern- 
ment  by  advice  of  evil  counselors, — and  that  the  making 
of  a  new  Great  Seal  would  be  a  direct  infraction  of  the 
law,  for  which  they  might  hereafter  be  made  criminally 
responsible.  On  the  other  hand,  the  more  determined 
urged  that  it  was  unworthy  to  start  technical  difficulties 
as  to  the  mode  of  exercising  the  authority  of  the  parlia- 
ment in  the  manner  most  effectual  and  most  beneficial  to 
the  public, — that  a  new  Great  Seal,  which  would  so  much 
facilitate  the  transaction  of  public  business,  would  not  be 
a  greater  departure  from  law  than  issuing  orders  in  the 
King's  name  against  his  person, — and  that  it  was  much  too 
late  to  talk  prudishly  of  a  regard  to  law,  after  they  had 
fought  the  King  at  Edgehill,  and  he  had  declared  by  pro- 
clamation, not  only  that  all  who  had  appeared  against  him 
in  arms,  but  all  who  had  contributed  money,  or  stores,  or 
provisions  for  the  use  of  those  whom  he  designated  Rebels, 
were  guilty  of  high  treason.  After  a  long  debate,  the 
last  resolution  was  carried  only  by  a  majority  of  12, — the 
yeas  being  86,  and  the  noes  74.' 

The  Lords,  whose  deliberations  were  chiefly  guided  by 
the  Earl  of  Manchester  (formerly  Lord  Kimbolton),  now 
presiding  on  the  woolsack  as  Speaker,  the  Earl  of  North- 
umberland, and  the  Earl  of  Essex  when  he  could  be 
spared  from  the  army, — were  by  no  means  as  yet  pre- 
pared to  go  the  full  length  of  these  resolutions.  On  the 
ist,  they  voted  "that  the  Great  Seal  ought  to  be  applied 
to  the  commands  of  the  parliament  according  to  the  laws 
of  the  land,  but  that  it  ought  not,  according  to  the  laws  of 
the  land,  to  attend  the  commands  of  the  parliament." 

1  With  the  tellers,  making  a  house  of  164, 1  believe  there  was  seldom  after- 
wards a  more  numerous  attendance,  even  before  Pride's  Purge,  or  the  violent 
exclusion  of  members — a  considerable  number  having  joined  the  King,  many 
of  the  parliamentary  party  being  with  the  army,  and  there  being  long  no 
means  of  filling  up  vacancies. 


1643.]  THE    SIX    COMMISSIONERS.  309 

The   5th  resolution,  for  making  forthwith  a  new  Great 
Seal,  they  met  with  a  direct  negative. 

Several  conferences  upon  the  subject  were  held  between 
the  two  Houses  to  no  purpose.  At  the  last  of  these,  the 
Commons  submitted  the  following  reasons  for  the  measures 
they  recommended,  divided  into  two  general  heads : — 

"I.     Mischiefs  occasioned  by  conveying  away  the  Great  Seal 
from  the  Parliament. 

"i.  It  was  secretly  and  unlawfully  carried  away  by  the 
Lord  Keeper,  contrary  to  the  duty  of  his  place  ;  who 
ought  himself  to  have  attended  the  parliament,  and  not 
to  have  departed  without  leave ;  nor  should  have  been 
suffered  to  carry  away  the  Great  Seal  if  his  intentions  had 
been  discovered. 

"  2.  It  hath  been  taken  away  from  him  and  put  into 
the  hands  of  other  dangerous  and  ill-affected  persons ;  so 
as  the  Lord  Keeper,  being  sent  unto  by  parliament  for 
the  sealing  of  some  writs,  returned  answer,  that  he  could 
not  seal  the  same  because  he  had  not  the  Seal  in  his 
keeping. 

"  3.  Those  who  have  had  the  managing  thereof  have 
employed  it  to  the  hurt  and  destruction  of  the  kingdom 
sundry  ways:  by  making  new  Sheriffs  in  an  unusual  and 
unlawful  manner,  to  be  as  so  many  generals  or  com- 
manders of  forces  raised  against  the  parliament ;  by 
issuing  out  unlawful  commissions  of  array,  with  other  un- 
lawful commissions  for  the  same  purpose ;  by  sending 
forth  proclamations  against  both  Houses  of  parliament, 
and  several  members  thereof;  proclaiming  them  traitors 
against  the  privileges  of  parliament  and  laws  of  the  land  ; 
by  sealing  commissions  of  oyer  and  terminer  to  proceed 
against  them  and  other  of  his  Majesty's  good  subjects, 
adhering  to  the  parliament,  as  traitors ;  by  sending  com- 
missions into  Ireland  to  treat  a  peace  with  the  rebels 
there,  contrary  to  an  act  of  parliament  made  this  session ; 
besides,  divers  other  dangerous  and  illegal  acts  have  been 
passed  under  the  Great  Seal  since  it  was  secretly  con- 
veyed away  from  parliament,  whereby  great  calamities 
and  mischiefs  have  ensued  to  the  kingdom's  prejudice. 

•'II.    Mischiefs  proceeding  through  want  of  the  Great  Seal. 
"i.    The  terms  have  been  adjourned;    the  courts  of 
Justice  obstructed. 


3io     CHANCELLORS  OF  COMMONWEALTH.  [1643. 

"  2.  No  original  writs  can  be  sued  forth  without  going 
to  Oxford ;  which  none  who  holds  with  the  parliament 
can  do  without  peril  of  his  life  or  liberty. 

"  3.  Proclamations  in  parliament  can  not  issue  out  for 
bringing  in  delinquents  impeached  of  high  treason,  or 
other  crimes,  under  pain  of  forfeiting  their  estates  ac- 
cording to  the  ancient  course. 

"  4.  No  writs  of  error  can  be  brought  in  parliament  to 
reverse  erroneous  judgments;  nor  writs  of  election  sued 
out  for  choosing  new  members  upon  death  or  removal  of 
any;  whereby  the  number  of  the  members  is  much  less- 
ened, and  the  House  in  time  likely  to  be  dissolved  if 
speedy  supply  be  not  had,  contrary  to  the  very  act  for 
continuance  of  this  parliament. 

"  5.  Every  other  court  of  justice  hath  a  peculiar  seal ; 
and  the  parliament,  the  supreme  court  of  England,  hath  no 
other  but  the  Great  Seal  of  England ;  which  being  kept 
away  from  it,  hath  now  no  seal  at  all ;  and  therefore  a 
new  seal  ought  to  be  made. 

"  This  Seal  is  clavis  regni,  and  therefore  ought  to  be 
resident  with  the  parliament  (which  is  the  representative 
of  the  whole  kingdom)  while  it  continues  sitting,  the 
King  as  well  as  the  kingdom  being  always  legally  present 
in  it  during  its  session." 

The  Lords  having  sent  a  message  "  that  their  Lordships 
do  adhere  to  their  former  resolutions  concerning  the 
making  of  a  new  Great  Seal,"  the  Commons,  the  following 
day  resolved,  "  That  a  Great  Seal  of  England  shall  be 
presently  made,  and  that  a  committee  be  appointed  for 
this  purpose,  and  that  Sir  Robert  Harley  take  care 
of  the  speedy  and  effectual  execution  of  this  order." ' 
They  meant  this  by  way  of  a  hint,  that  they  might  ex- 
clusively assume  sovereign  authority,  and  they  hoped 
that  when  the  Seal  was  made  the  Lords  would  acquiesce 
in  the  use  of  it. 

There  seems  to  have  been  a  difficulty  in  finding  an 
artist  who  would  undertake  the  work  without  the  direct 
order  of  the  House,  and  about  a  week  afterwards  it  was 
resolved,  "that  Mr.  Marten  (the  regicide)  do  to-morrow 
bring  hither  the  man  who  will  undertake  to  grave  the 
Great  Seal  to  receive  his  directions."3  Simonds,  the 
eminent  medalist,  was  accordingly  introduced,  and  was 

1  Lords'  Jour.  vi.  117,  119.     Com.  Jour.  iii.  154,  155.      *  Com.  Jour.  iii.  162. 


1643.]  THE    SIX    COMMISSIONERS.  311 

fortified  with  the  following  warrant,  signed  by  the 
Speaker: — ''Ordered  that  Mr.  Simonds  be  required  and 
enjoined  forthwith  to  make  a  new  Great  Seal  of  England, 
and  that  he  shall  have  £100  for  his  pains,  £40  in  hand, 
and  three-score  pounds  as  soon  as  he  shall  finished  his 
work."  ' 

On  the  28th  of  September  a  Seal  engraved  on  silver, 
copied  from  an  impression  of  the  King's  Great  Seal,  and 
in  all  respects  resembling  it,  was  brought  into  the  House, 
when  an  order  was  made  "  that  it  should  be  sealed  up  and 
delivered  into  the  custody  of  Mr.  Speaker,  not  to  be  made 
use  of  until  the  House  take  further  order."  ! 

The  leaders  of  the  Commons  were  now  very  much  per- 
plexed as  to  their  next  move,  for  they  were  by  no  means 
yet  prepared  to  throw  off  the  authority  of  the  Lords,  that 
House  retaining  considerable  influence  with  the  public, 
and  the  Earl  of  Essex  and  other  Peers  being  indispensably 
necessary  for  carrying  on  the  war.  They  resolved  to  make 
another  effort  to  obtain  the  concurrence  of  the  other 
House.  In  the  meanwhile  the  battle  of  Newbury  had 
been  fought ;  the  exasperation  of  the  contending  parties 
had  considerably  increased ;  and  Essex  had  been  recently 
gratified  by  the  dismissal  of  his  rival,  Sir  William  Waller, 
who,  from  temporary  successes,  had  been  quaintly  called 
"  William  the  Conqueror"  and  had  excited  the  jealousy 
of  the  "  Lord  General."  It  was  likewise  hoped  that  some 
impression  had  been  made  by  Prynne's  famous  treatise, 
written  for  this  occasion,  which  the  House  had  ordered  to 
be  printed,3  entitled, 

"THE  OPENING  OF  THE  GREAT  SEALE  OF  ENGLAND, 

"  CONTAINING 

"  Certain  brief,  historical!,  and  legall  observations  touching  the  originall  an- 
tiquity, use,  necessity  of  Great  Scale  of  the  Kings  and  kingdom  of  Eng- 
land, in  respect  of  charters,  patents,  writs,  commissions,  and  other 
processe, 

"  Together  with  the  King's  kingdom's  parliament's  severall  interests  in  and 
power  over  the  same,  and  over  the  Lord  Chancellor  and  the  Lords  and 
Keepers  of  it,  both  in  regard  of  its  new  making,  custody,  administration 
for  the  better  execution  of  publike  justice,  the  republique,  necessary 
safety  and  utility ; 

1  Com.  Jour.  iii.  174.  This  same  artist  made  the  other  Great  Seals  for  the 
Commonwealth,  and,  after  the  battle  of  Dunbar,  was  sent  to  Scotland,  to  take 
the  effigies  of  Oliver  for  a  medal,  to  celebrate  the  victory.  Such  was  his  re- 
putation, that  he  continued  to  be  employed  by  the  government  after  the 
Restoration. — Carlyle's  Cromwell,  vol.  ii.  291-293,  2nd  ed. 

*  Com.  Jour,  iii.' 257.  3  Sept.  15,  1643. 


312     CHANCELLORS  OF  COMMONWEALTH.  [1643. 

"  Occasioned  by  the  over-rash  censures  of  such  who  inveigh  against  the  par- 
liament for  ordering  a  new  Great  Scale  to  be  engraven  to  supply  the  will- 
ful absence,  defects,  abuses  of  the  old,  unduely  withdrawne  and  detained 
from  them. 

"  By  WILLIAM  PRYNNE,  utter  Barrister  of  Lincoln's  Inne. 
"  Esther,  viii.  8.     '  Write  ye  also  for  the  Jews,  as  it  liketh  you,  in  the  King's 
name,  AND  SEAL  IT  WITH  THE  KING'S  RING:  for  the  writing  which  is  written 
in  the  King's  name,   AND  SEALED  WITH  THE  KING'S  RING,  may  no  man 
reverse.'  " 

In  this  treatise,  the  author  of  HlSTRlOMASTlX  having 
lost  his  ears,  but  not  his  learning  or  his  dullness,  nor  his 
perverse  ingenuity, — by  a  misapplication  of  Scripture  and 
legal  authorities,  had  attempted  to  prove  that  the  Great 
Seal  of  England  was  meant  to  express  the  will  of  the  King 
and  the  other  estates  of  the  realm,  and  that  upon  the  de- 
fault or  deficiency  of  any  one  branch  of  the  legislature,  it 
might  be  lawfully  used  by  the  remainder.1 

A  committee  was  appointed  "  to  consider  what  is  fit  to 
be  done  concerning  the  Great  Seal,  and  the  use  of  it,  and 
of  the  former  votes  of  both  Houses  concerning  it,  and  to 
report  their  opinions  to  this  House;  and  this  business  is 
especially  recommended  to  Mr.  Sergeant  Wilde,  and  all 
the  lawyers  of  the  House." 

Mr.  Sergeant  Wilde  reported  from  the  committee  that 
another  conference  on  the  subject  should  be  demanded 
from  the  Lords, — which  was  agreed  to,  and  he  was  ap- 
pointed to  manage  it.  He  forcibly  recapitulated  the 
former  reasons,  introducing  a  little  of  Prynne's  argumenta- 
tion— dwelt  upon  a  proclamation  lately  put  forth  by  the 
King  for  seizing  the  estates  of  all  parliament  men,  and  any 
who  adhered  to  the  parliament — and  pointed  out  the  ab- 
solute necessity  for  the  use  of  a  new  Great  Seal  to  preserve 
the  government  of  this  kingdom,  and  to  provide  for  the 
administration  of  justice.2 

The  Lords  yielded  ;  and  "  taking  into  serious  considera- 
tion the  necessity  of  preserving  the  government  of  the 
kingdom  and  his  Majesty's  authority  in  parliament,  and 
the  being  thereof,  and  the  due  administration  of  justice, 
and  perceiving,  by  the  mischiefs  already  experienced,  how 

1  It  was  pretty  much  on  this  reasoning  that   Mr.  Pitt's  Regency  Bill  pro- 
ceeded in  1789,  which  was  adopted  by  the  Tory  party — the  heir-apparent,  in 
whom  was  the  hereditary  right,  being  supposed  to  be  adverse  to  them.     A 
Great  Seal  was  fabricated  for  the  occasion,  after  the  example  of  the  Long 
Parliament,  as  the  commission  to  go  through  the  form  of  giving  the   Royal 
consent  was  purely  the  act  of  the  two  Houses. 

2  Lords'  Jour.  vi.  252,  253. 


1643.]  THE    SIX    COMMISSIONERS.  313 

absolutely  indispensable  it  is  to  have  the  Great  Seal  at- 
tending the  parliament, — after  a  mature  debate  this  ques- 
tion was  put, — Whether  a  Great  Seal  of  England  shall  be 
forthwith  made  to  attend  the  parliament  for  dispatch  of 
the  affairs  of  the  parliament  and  of  the  kingdom? — and  it 
passed  affirmatively." ' 

A  message  to  this  effect  coming  down  to  the  Commons, 
they  resolved,  on  the  motion  of  Sergeant  Wilde,  that  "an 
ordinance  should  forthwith  be  framed  for  more  effectually 
invalidating  all  proceedings  under  the  Great  Seal  at  Oxford, 
and  for  vesting  the  Seal  of  the  parliament  in  Commissioners, 
with  the  powers  of  Lord  Chancellor  or  Lord  Keeper,  to 
be  exercised  under  the  directions  of  both  Houses."8 

An  ordinance  to  this  effect  speedily  passed  through  the 
House  of  Commons;  but  it  seems  to  have  met  with  some 
obstruction  in  the  Lords,  and  not  fewer  than  six  messages 
were  sent  up  from  the  Commons  praying  their  Lordships 
to  concur  with  them  in  putting  the  new  Great  Seal  in  exe- 
cution, and  to  expedite  their  answer  concerning  the  Great 
Seal, — the  messengers  from  the  Commons  always  being 
informed  that  "their  Lordships  would  send  an  answer  by 
messengers  of  their  own."  At  last  Sergeant  Wilde  came 
to  the  bar  of  the  Lords,  and,  with  his  characteristic 
energy,  read  them  a  lecture  on  their  long  delays,  telling 
their  Lordships,  "that  the  ordinance  concerning  the  Great 
Seal  was  of  such  absolute  necessity  that  the  Common- 
wealth suffered  great  prejudice  for  want  thereof."  The 
difficulties,  whatever  they  might  have  been,  were  now 
overcome  ;  and,  after  some  conferences  to  fix  the  names 
of  the  Commissioners,  the  ordinance  received  the  assent 
of  both  Houses,  and,  according  to  the  doctrine  then  pre- 
vailing, became  law.  Six  Commissioners  were  appointed 
— two  members  of  the  House  of  Peers,  and  four  members 
of  the  House  of  Commons,  "  which  said  persons,  or  any 
three  or  more  of  them,  whereof  one  member  or  more  of 
the  Lords'  House,  also  one  member  or  more  of  the  House 
of  Commons,  should  be  present,  were  authorized  to  have 
the  keeping,  ordering,  and  disposing  of  the  new  Great 
Seal,  as  also  all  such  and  the  like  power  as  any  Lord 
Chancellor,  or  Lord  Keeper,  or  Commissioners  of  the 
Great  Seal  ever  had,  used,  or  ought  to  have."  ! 

1  Lords'  Jour.  vi.  254.  8  Com.  Jour.  iii.  278. 

8  Lords'  Jour.  vi.  300,  301.     "  It  must  surely  excite  a  smile  that  men  who 


3i4    CHANCELLORS  OF  COMMONWEALTH.  [1643. 

After  some  preliminaries  had  been  settled  as  to  the 
form  of  the  oath  to  be  taken  by  the  Commissioners,  and 
the  place  where  the  Seal  was  to  be  kept  by  them,1 — on 
the  3Oth  of  November  the  Speaker  of  the  Commons,  at- 
tended by  the  whole  House,  appeared  at  the  bar  of  the 
Lords,  and  said, — "  My  Lords,  VVhereas  the  Great  Seal  of 
England  was,  by  order  of  the  House  of  Commons,  ap- 
pointed to  be  in  my  custody,  without  being  made  use  of 
until  it  should  be  settled  and  disposed  of  by  authority  of 
ordinance  of  both  Houses  of  parliament,  I  am  now  com- 
manded by  the  House  of  Commons  to  deliver  the  same  to 
the  Speaker  of  your  Lordships'  House,  so  that  the  Com- 
missioners may  be  sworn,  and  the  Great  Seal  delivered  to 
them  in  full  parliament."  The  Speaker  of  the  Lords 
went  down  from  his  place  to  the  bar,  and  received  it  from 
the  hands  of  the  Speaker  of  the  Commons  and  brought  it 
to  the  woolsack.  Thereupon  the  Earl  of  Kent  and  the 
Earl  of  Bolingbroke,  the  two  Peers  Commissioners,  were 
sworn  at  the  table,  the  Speaker  of  the  Lords  administering 
the  oath  of  office  to  them.  Next  the  four  Commissioners, 
members  of  the  House  of  Commons,  viz.  Oliver  St.  John, 
Solicitor  to  his  Majesty;  Mr.  Sergeant  Wilde,  Samuel 
Brown,  Esq.,  and  Edward  Prideaux,  Esq.,  took  the  oath, 
the  Clerk  of  the  Parliament  reading  it  to  them.  Then  the 
Speaker  of  the  Lords  carried  the  Great  Seal  to  the  bar, 
and  delivered  it  to  the  Six  Commissioners  in  full  parlia- 
ment, and  the  Commons  and  their  Speaker  returned  to 
their  own  House." 

On  a  subsequent  day  the  Lords  Commissioners  all  took 
the  oath  required  by  the  Triennial  Act,  and  the  oaths  of 
allegiance  and  supremacy3  before  both  Houses, — at  the 
same  time  that  Lenthal  was  sworn  in  Master  of  the  Rolls, 

had  raised  armies  and  fought  battles  against  the  King,  should  be  perplexed 
how  to  get  over  so  technical  a  difficulty.  But  'the  Great  Seal  in  the  eyes  of 
English  lawyers  has  a  sort  of  mysterious  efficacy,  and  passes  for  the  deposi- 
tary of  royal  authority  in  a  higher  degree  than  the  person  of  the  King." — 
Hall.  Const.  Hist.  ii.  222. 

1  That  this  Seal  might  not  be  carried  off  to  the  King,  or  applied  to  any 
improper  purpose,  it  was  to  be  kept  in  the  office  of  the  clerk  of  the  House  of 
Peers,  sealed  up  with  three  of  the  Commissioners'  seals,  in  an  iron  chest, 
under  three  different  locks,  each  Commissioner  having  one  key. — Lords' Jour. 
vi.  300,  301. 

'J  This  graphic  description  of  the  ceremony  is  nearly  in  the  very  words  of 
the  Lords'  Journals,  vi.  318. 

3  These  oaths  continued  to  be  taken  by  all  persons  in  employment  under 
the  parliament  till  the  end  of  the  civil  war. 


1644.]  THE    SIX    COMMISSIONERS.  315 

having  been  appointed  to  that  office  by  ordinance,  while 
Colepeper  enjoyed  the  same  title  at  Oxford  under  the 
King's  patent.1 

As  soon  as  the  news  of  these  proceedings  reached  Ox- 
ford, a  proclamation  was  issued  by  the  King,  under  his 
Great  Seal,  denouncing  the  counterfeiting  of  the  Great 
Seal  by  the  parliament  as  "  High  Treason," — forbidding 
the  use  of  it, — declaring  null  and  void  all  done  under  it, — 
and  threatening  to  prosecute,  as  traitors  or  accessories,  all 
who  should  use  it  or  pay  respect  to  it.  But  this  was 
treated  at  Westminster  as  brutum  fulmen,  and  was  not 
thought  even  worthy  of  an  answer.2 

By  several  supplemental  ordinances  and  resolutions  of 
the  two  Houses,  offices  were  provided  for  the  "  Lords 
Commissioners"  and  "  His  Honor," — and,  after  an  inter- 
ruption of  nearly  two  years,  the  Court  of  Chancery  was 
re-opened  at  Westminster,  arid  the  business  proceeded 
with  full  vigor.  On  the  first  day  the  Commissioners  sat, 
they  sealed  above  five  hundred  writs.  In  judicial  matters 
they  were  left  to  their  own  discretion  ;  but  in  putting 
the  Seal  to  grants  and  appointments  to  offices  they  acted 
ministerially,  under  the  orders  of  the  two  Houses. 

The  House  of  Commons  immediately  ordered  an  ac- 
count of  all  sums  paid  into  the  Court  of  Chancery  for  the 
last  twenty  years,  and  that  if  any  should  prove  to  be  the 
moneys  of  malignants  or  delinquents,  or  to  be  dead  stock, 
it  should  be  applied  to  the  public  service.3  This  is  the 
origin  of  the  "  Suitor's  Fund." 

In  answer  to  a  proclamation  under  the  King's  Great 
Seal,  adjourning  the  Courts  to  Oxford,  the  first  state 
document  to  which  the  Lords  Commissioners  put  their 
Great  Seal  was  a  counter-proclamation,  by  which  all  judges, 
officers,  suitors,  and  other  faithful  subjects  of  his  Majesty, 
were  enjoined  under  a  heavy  penalty,  to  attend  the  Courts 
at  Westminster.3 

Sergeant  Wilde  appears  to  have  been  by  far  the  most 
active  of  the  Six  Commissioners,  and  next  to  him  at  a 

1  In  the  absence  of  royal  authority,  great  importance  seems  to  have  been 
attached  to  the  allegation  that  these  acts  were  done  " en  plein  parliament" 
an  expression  frequently  occurring  in  the  early  rolls  respecting  the  granting 
of  honors  and  offices. 

J  Nov.  29.  1643.     Doquets  of  Great  Seal  at  Oxford,  Temp.  Car.  I. 

3  Com.  Jour.  iii.  346.  The  return  made  would  bsj  very  curious,  but  I  have 
not  been  able  to  meet  with  it.  *  Jan.  6,  1644.  Com.  Jour.  iii.  359. 


316    CHANCELLORS  OF  COMMONWEALTH.    [1646. 

long  interval,  came  Oliver  St.  John,  who  was  an  able  law- 
yer, but  devoted  much  of  his  time  to  politics.  One  of 
the  noble  Lords  Commissioners  always  sat  along  with  the 
Commoners,  but  did  not  interfere  unless  on  occasions  of 
ceremony. 

A  commission  was  soon  after  issued,  authorizing  the 
Master  of  the  Rolls,  and  certain  of  the  Judges,  to  assist 
in  the  hearing  of  causes  in  the  Court  of  Chancery. 

Things  continued  on  this  footing  at  Westminster  till 
the  month  of  August,  1646,  when  the  King's  Great  Seal, 
having  been  taken  at  Oxford,  was  broken  in  pieces  with 
much  solemnity  in  the  presence  of  both  Houses,  and  there 
ceased  to  be  rival  Great  Seals  in  England.1  At  the  same 
time  the  Earl  of  Salisbury,  who  had  been  appointed  in 
the  place  of  the  Earl  of  Bolingbroke,  deceased,  was  sworn 
as  a  Lord  Commissioner.  The  Earl  of  Kent,  having  taken 
his  place  as  a  Peer,  came  down  to  the  bar  and  received 
the  parliamentary  Great  Seal  from  the  other  Commis- 
sioners. He  presented  it  to  the  Clerk  of  the  Parliament, 
by  whom  it  was  carried  to  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of 
Lords,  and  laid  on  the  woolsack.  The  Earl  of  Salisbury, 
then  at  the  table,  took  the  oath  of  supremacy,  the  oath  of 
allegiance,  the  oath  of  office,  and  the  oath  under  the  Tri- 
ennial Act.  Finally,  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Lords 
carried  the  Seal  to  the  bar,  where  the  Commons,  with 
their  Speaker,  then  stood,  and  delivered  it  to  the  Earl  of 
Salisbury  to  be  kept  by  him  with  the  rest  of  the  Commis- 
sioners.2 

Violent  disputes  now  arose  respecting  the  Commis- 
sionership  of  the  Great  Seal  and  other  offices.  Oliver 
Cromwell,  who  at  first  was  probably  influenced  only  by  a 
fanatical  zeal  for  religion  and  liberty,  had  for  some  time 
been  goaded  on  by  personal  ambition,  and  distinctly 
aimed  at  supreme  power.  With  this  view  he  was  pursu- 
ing his  "  Self-denying  Ordinances," — from  which  he  meant 
that  he  himself  should  be  excepted,  whilst  they  should 
deprive  of  all  power  the  Earl  of  Essex,  the  Earl  of  Man- 
chester, and  the  leaders  in  both  Houses,  whose  ascendency 
he  dreaded.  Accordingly,  on  the  self-denying  principle, 
he  caused  an  ordinance  to  be  brought  in  by  which  it  was 
declared  that  the  Great  Seal  should  not,  in  future,  be 
held  by  any  member  of  either  House,  and  three  new 
1  Ante,  p.  303.  *  Lords'  Jour.  458. 


1646.]    THE    SPEAKERS'     COMMISSIONERS.       317 

Commissioners,  not  in  parliament,  were  named  to  super- 
sede the  six  now  in  office.  In  the  Commons,  a  vote  was 
obtained,  by  a  majority  of  75  to  65,  "  that  no  member  of 
either  House  should  be  a  Commissioner  of  the  Great  Seal," 
and  three  Commissioners  were  agreed  upon,  who  were 
not  in  parliament, — Sir  Rowland  Wandesford,  Sir  Thomas 
Biddingfield,  and  Bradshaw,  afterwards  President  of  the 
High  Court  of  Justice.  At  the  same  time  it  was  provided 
that  the  presentations  to  livings  and  the  appointment  of 
Justices  of  the  Peace  should  be  in  the  two  Houses;  and 
an  order  was  made,  "  that  the  Commissioners  for  the 
custody  of  the  Great  Seal  do  not  relieve  any  person  in 
Chancery  in  any  case  where  the  party  may  be  relieved 
by  the  common  law."1 

But  the  self-denying  principle  was  not  at  all  approved 
of  by  the  Lords,  as  it  operated  most  unequally,  by  at 
once  disqualifying  the  whole  body  of  the  Peerage  for 
holding  any  public  employment.  They  therefore  rejected 
the  ordinance  for  transferring  the  Seal  to  the  three  new 
Commissioners. 

The  Commons  then  passed  another  ordinance,  as  a 
compromise  for  the  present,  "  That  the  Speakers  of  both 
Houses  should  have  power  to  seal  all  original  writs  and 
processes, .and  likewise  commissions  and  pardons,  which 
have  usually  passed  and  ought  to  pass,  under  the  Great 
Seal,  as  fully  as  any  Lord  Keeper  or  Commissioner  for  the 
Great  Seal  for  the  time  being  ought  and  might  have 
done  ;"  and  sent  it  up  to  the  Lords  with  a  message, 
"  That  in  regard  of  the  great  obstruction  of  the  proceed- 
ings in  Chancery  because  the  Commissioners  of  the  Great 
Seal  are  not  settled,  and  in  regard  of  the  great  prejudice 
the  subject  suffers  for  want  of  sealing  of  writs,  there  being 
now  8,000  writs  ready  to  be  sealed,  the  Commons  had 
framed  an  ordinance  for  preventing  of  these  inconveni- 
ences, wherein  they  desire  their  Lordships'  concurrence." 

The  Lords  agreed  to  the  ordinance  with  some  im- 
material amendment ;  and  it  was  followed  by  another,  for 
appointing  the  Master  of  the  Rolls  and  certain  Judges  to 
hear  causes  in  Chancery  in  the  absence  of  the  Lords 
Commissioners. 

An  order  was  thereupon  made  that  the  late  Commis- 
sioners should  deliver  the  key  of  the  chest  in  which  the 
1  Com.  Jour.  iv.  701. 


3i8   CHANCELLORS  OF  COMMONWEALTH.  [1646. 

Great  Seal  was  kept  to  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons ;  and  Lenthal,  accordingly,  received  it  from  Sergeant 
Wilde.  The  sum  of  .£1,000  was  voted  to  each  of  them  for 
their  trouble,  and  it  was  ordered  that  such  of  them  as 
were  of  the  Long  Robe  should  thenceforth  have  the 
privilege  of  practicing  within  the  bar. 

On  the  3 1st  of  October  the  two  Speakers  were  sworn 
in,  both  Houses  being  present.  The  Earl  of  Manchester, 
standing  in  his  place  on  the  woolsack,  took  the  following 
oaths: — I.  The  oath  of  supremacy.  2.  The  oath  of  al- 
legiance. 3.  The  oath  of  office,  which  he  read  himself; 
— and  4.  The  oath  under  the  Triennial  Act,  administered 
to  him  by  the  clerk  of  the  Crown.  Then  Lenthal  had  the 
same  oaths  administered  to  him, — the  two  first  at  the  bar, 
the  third  read  to  him  by  the  Speaker  of  the  Lords'  House. 
This  being  done,  the  Earl  of  Manchester  went  down  to 
the  bar,  and  the  Great  Seal  being  brought  from  the  wool- 
sack and  taken  out  of  the  purse  and  opened,  the  Speaker 
of  the  Lords'  House  took  it  into  his  hand,  and  said, — 
"  According  to  the  ordinance  of  both  Houses  of  parlia- 
ment authorizing  me  to  be  a  Commissioner  of  the  Great 
Seal,  I  do  receive  it  and  deliver  it  unto  you  (the  Speaker 
of  the  House  of  Commons)  as  the  other  Commissioner."  ' 

On  the  2nd  of  November,  the  new  Lords  Commis- 
sioners began  the  business  of  the  Seal,  and  a  Judge  and  a 
Master  in  Chancery  by  turns  assisted  them ;  but  their 
sittings  were  very  irregular,  and  there  were  heavy  com- 
plaints of  delays  and  ill-considered  decrees.  Their 
authority  was  set  at  defiance  by  Jenkins,  a  common-law 
Judge,  who  had  stoutly  adhered  to  the  King,  and  had 
tried  and  executed  several  persons  for  taking  arms  against 
him.  This  spirited  Welshman  being  brought  up  in  cus- 
tody for  disobedience  to  the  process  of  the  Court  of  Chan- 
cery, was  required  to  put  in  an  answer  to  a  bill  filed 
against  him,  imputing  to  him  gross  fraud  and  breach  of 
trust ;  but  he  told  them  "  that  he  neither  ought  nor  would 
submit  to  the  power  of  that  Court,  for  that  it  was  no 
Court,  and  their  Seal  was  counterfeit." 

An  ordinance  being  introduced  to  attaint  him  for  this 
contumacy  and  his  other  misdeeds,  he  was  brought  to 
the  bar  to  make  his  defense ;  but  he  refused  to  kneel, 
denied  their  authority,  and  told  them  that  they  wronged 

1  Lords'  Jour.  viii.  552. 


1642.]     THE  SPEAKERS'   COMMISSIONERS.        319 

the  King,  and  that  there  could  be  no  law  without  a  King. 
The  House  fined  him  ,£1,000  for  his  contempt.  Soon 
after  he  was  specifically  called  upon  to  plead  to  the 
charges  of  "having  given  judgment  of  deUh  against  men 
for  assisting  the  parliament,  having  been  himself  in  arms 
against  the  parliament,  having  persuaded  others  to  do  the 
like,  and  having  denied  the  power  of  the  parliament ;" 
but  he  still  said  they  had  no  power  to  try  him,  and  he 
would  give  them  no  other  answer.  The  attainder  passed 
the  Commons,  but  was  allowed  to  drop  in  the  Lords; 
and  afterwards,  in  the  year  1651,  when  the  government 
was  better  established,  on  a  slight  submission  Jenkins  re- 
ceived a  pardon  under  the  Great  Seal  of  the  Common- 
wealth.1 

It  was  meant  that  the  present  arrangement  respecting 
the  Great  Seal  should  only  be  temporary,  and  a  joint 
committee  of  the  two  Houses,  consisting  of  fifteen  Peers 
and  "thirty  Commoners,  repeatedly  met  in  the  Painted 
Chamber,  with  the  view  of  devising  some  plan  that  might 
be  more  satisfactory  to  the  public.  The  Commons,  now 
more  and  more  under  the  influence  of  Cromwell,  were  for 
extending  the  self-denying  ordinance  to  the  Great  Seal ; 
but  the  Lords,  feeling  their  influence  declining,  would  not 
part  with  this  remnant  of  their  power,  and  came  to  a 
resolution  "  that  among  the  Commissioners  of  the  Great 
Seal  there  should  be  one  or  more  members  of  their 
House." 

These  disputes  rendered  it  necessary  that  the  time 
should  be  prolonged  for  which  the  two  Speakers  were  to 
be  the  Lords  Commissioners,  and  this  was  repeatedly 
done  by  ordinance, — generally  from  twenty  days  to  twenty 
days.8  But  the  King  was  now  a  prisoner :  military  des- 
potism was  established  under  the  semblance  of  liberty, — 
and  the  discerning  saw  that  the  struggle  of  the  Peers  to 
maintain  their  independence  being  unavailing,  everything 
must  bend  to  the  mandate  of  Cromwell. 

1  Whit.  Mem.  291,  292,  301,  347,  389,  464,  511. 
1  Lords'  Jour.  viii.  560  et  seq. 


320    CHANCELLORS  OF  COMMONWEALTH.  [1648. 


CHAPTER  LXIX. 

LORDS  COMMISSIONERS  OF  THE  GREAT  SEAL  FROM  THE 
FIRST  APPOINTMENT  OF  WHITELOCK  TILL  THE 
ADOPTION  OF  A  NEW  GREAT  SEAL  BEARING  THE 
INSIGNIA  OF  THE  REPUBLIC. 

AMIDST  the  stirring  political  events  which  for  some 
time  occupied  the  public, — the  negotiations  with 
the  King  at  Holmby, — his  being  violently  carried 
off  by  Joyce, — his  flight  from  Hampton  Court, — his  im- 
prisonment in  Carisbrook  Castle, — and  the  attempts  of  the 
army  to  overpower  the  parliament, — the  custody  of  the 
Great  Seal,  and  the  administration  of  justice  in  the  Court 
of  Chancery,  excited  little  attention. 

But  in  an  interval  of  comparative  quiet  which  occurred 
in  the  spring  of  1648,  loud  complaints  were  heard  of  the 
absurdity  of  having  for  the  two  supreme  Equity  Judges 
a  lay  Peer,  because  he  happened  to  be  Speaker  of  the 
House  of  Lords  and  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, who,  though  he  had  been  bred  to  the  law,  was 
now  completely  absorbed  in  his  parliamentary  duties. 

In  the  hope  of  satisfying  the  people  and  reconciling  the 
clashing  pretensions  of  the  two  Houses,  an  ordinance  was 
introduced  into  the  Commons,  and  immediately  passed, 
for  the  appointment  of  three  new  Lords  Commissioners, 
—the  Earl  of  Kent,  Bulstrode  Whitelock,  Esq.,  and  Sir 
Thomas  Widdrington,  Sergeant-at-law.  When  the  ordi- 
nance came  up  to  the  Lords,  they  insisted  that  there 
should  be  an  equal  number  of  their  body  appointed  Com- 
missioners, and  added  the  name  of  Lord  Grey  de  Werke, 
— with  a  proviso  that  no  act  should  be  done  by  the  Com- 
moners, unless  with  the  concurrence  of  one  Peer  and  one 
Commoner.  To  these  amendments  the  Commons  re- 
luctantly assented,  and  the  ordinance  was  law. 

Three  of  the  new  Lords  Commissioners  of  the  Great 
Seal  were  mere  ciphers,  and  there  would  be  no  amuse- 
ment or  instruction  in  trying  to  trace  their  origin  or  their 
career;  but  WHITELOCK  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  as 
well  as  amiable  characters  of  the  age  in  which  he  lived, — 
and  as  afterwards,  on  the  deposition  of  His  Highness,  the 
Lord  Protector  Richard,  he  was  for  a  time  sole  Lord 


GREAT  SEAL  OF  THE  COMMONWEALTH. 


i62o.]  LORD     WHITELOCK.  321 

Keeper  of  the  Great  Seal  under  the  Commonwealth,  I  am 
required  to  write  his  Life  as  if  he  had  presided  in  the 
Court  of  Chancery  and  on  the  woolsack  by  the  authority 
of  an  hereditary  sovereign. 

This  distinguished  republican  lawyer  was  of  an  ancient 
family,  and  very  proud  of  his  seventeen  descents  recorded 
at  the  Heralds'  College.  He  was  the  only  son  of  Sir 
James  Whitelock,  a  Judge  of  the  Court  of  King's  Bench, 
and  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Edward  Bulstrode,  Esq.,  of 
Hedgely  Bulstrode,  in  the  county  of  Buckingham,  and 
sister  of  Bulstrode,  the  famous  law  reporter.  He  was 
strongly  connected  with  the  law,  Sir  George  Croke,  a 
Judge  successively  of  the  Common  Pleas  and  King's 
Bench,  and  the  publisher  of  law  cases  in  three  reigns,1 
being  his  mother's  uncle.  In  the  house  of  this  venerable 
magistrate  in  Fleet  Street,  young  Bulstrode  Whitelock 
first  saw  the  light,  on  the  6th  of  August,  1605. 

After  passing  with  credit  through  Merchant  Taylors' 
school,  he  was  entered  in  Michaelmas  term,  1620,  a  gentle- 
man commoner  of  St.  John's  College,  Oxford.  Laud  was 
then  the  master  of  the  College,  and  from  him  he  received 
many  kindnesses,  which  he  never  afterwards  forgot. 
Having  quitted  the  University  (for  what  cause  does  not 
appear)  without  a  degree,  he  was  placed  in  chambers  in 
the  Middle  Temple,  and  commenced  the  arduous  course 
of  study  necessary  to  fit  him  for  the  bar.  His  father  was 
his  instructor,  and,  together  with  the  sound  maxims  of 
the  common  law,  early  imbued  his  mind  with  the  princi- 
ples of  constitutional  freedom,  then  little  regarded  among 
lawyers.  The  old  Judge,  when  himself  a  practicing  bar- 
rister, had  been  subjected  to  a  Star  Chamber  prosecution 
for  a  professional  opinion  he  had  given  to  a  client  upon 
the  legality  of  a  '•  benevolence  "  exacted  by  James  I. ;  and 
when  on  the  bench,  he  had  differed  from  all  his  brethren 
in  pronouncing  against  the  power  of  the  Kingand  Council 
to  commit  to  prison,  without  specifying  in  the  warrant 
the  cause  of  the  commitment.2  Yet  he  conducted  himself 

"  But  some  amidst  the  legal  throng 
Who  think  to  them  thy  streams  belong, 
Are  forced  to  cite  opinions  wise, 
Cro.  Car. — Cro.  Jac. — and  Cro.  Eliz." 

— Plead.  Guide. 

Judge  Croke's  Reports  are  thus  cited  by  the  names  of  the  princes  in  whose 
reigns  the  cases  were  described.  *  Darnel's  CPSC,  3  St.  Tr.  I 

HI. — 21 


322      CHANCELLORS  OF  COMMONWEALTH.  [1628. 

with  such  propriety,  that  Charles  I.  was  forced  to  cha- 
racterize him  as  "  a  stout,  wise,  and  learned  man,  and  one 
who  knew  what  belonged  to  uphold  magistrates  and 
magistracy  in  their  dignity "  While  a  student,  young 
Whitelock  was  fond  of  joining  amusement  with  instruc- 
tion by  acting  as  marshal  to  the  Judges  of  assize.  He 
himself  tells  us  that,  "  according  to  the  leave  he  had  from 
his  father,  and  by  his  means  from  the  several  Judges,  he 
rode  all  the  circuits  of  England  to  acquaint  himself  with 
his  native  country,  and  the  memorable  things  therein." 

In  1628  he  was  called  to  the  bar,  and  went  the  Oxford 
circuit  of  which  he  afterwards  became  the  decided  leader.1 
He  likewise  rose  into  respectable  practice  in  London. 
He  sat,  when  very  young,  in  the  parliament  which  passed 
the  "  Petition  of  Right,"  and  without  taking  any  pro- 
minent part  in  the  debates,  he  steadily  voted  for  that 
great  measure.  During  the  long  intermission  of  parlia- 
ments which  followed,  he  did  not  mix  in  politics,  and  he 
seems  to  have  associated  a  good  deal  with  the  courtiers. 
Being  now  Treasurer  of  the  Middle  Temple,  he  formed 
an  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Attorney  General  Noy,  to  whom 
he  tells  us,  he  thus  came  to  be  introduced.  "A  student 
of  the  Inn  having  died  in  chambers,  the  Society  disbursed 
money  for  his  funeral,  which  his  father  refused  to  pay. 
A  bill  was  thereupon  preferred  against  that  gentleman  in 
the  Court  of  Requests,  in  the  name  of  the  Treasurer,  in- 
geniously and  handsomely  setting  forth  the  customs  of  the 
Inns  of  Court,  with  the  whole  matter,  and  praying  that 
he  might  be  compelled  to  pay  the  money  so  disbursed, 
with  damages.  Upon  my  carrying  the  bill  to  Mr.  At- 
torney General  Noy  for  his  signature,  with  that  of  the 
other  Benchers,  he  was  pleased  to  advise  with  me  about 
a  patent  the  King  commanded  him  to  draw,  upon  which 
he  gave  me  a  fee  for  it  out  of  his  little  purse,  saying, 
'  Here,  take  these  single  pence,'  which  amounted  to  eleven 
groats,  '  and  I  give  you  more  than  an  attorney's  fee,  be- 
cause you  will  be  a  better  man  than  an  Attorney  General. 
This  you  will  find  to  be  true.'  After  much  other  drol- 
lery, wherein  he  delighted  and  excelled,  we  parted, 

1  As  a  proof  of  this  he  mentions  that  at  the  last  assizes  for  the  county  of 
Oxford  which  he  attended,  thirty-five  causes  were  tried,  and  he  had  forty-four 
retainers — his  ascendancy  being  as  great  in  the  other  seven  counties  on  the 
circuit. 


1633.]  LORD     WHITELOCK.  323 

abundance  of  company  attending  to  speak  to  him  all  this 
time." 

Whitelock  was  manager  for  the  Middle  Temple  of  the 
famous  masque  given  to  the  Queen,  by  the  Inns  of  Court, 
in  confutation  of"  Histriomastix  "  against  interludes,  and 
he  has  left  us  a  most  circumstantial  and  entertaining 
account  of  it.  To  him  was  committed  "the  whole  care 
and  charge  of  the  music,"  which  he  assures  us  "  excelled 
any  music  that  ever  before  that  time  had  been  heard  in 
England."1  His  head  was  quite  turned  by  the  Queen's 
compliment,  "  that  she  never  saw  any  masque  more  noble 
or  better  performed  than  this  was,  which  she  took  as  a 
particular  respect  to  herself,  as  well  as  to  the  King  her 
husband,  and  desired  that  her  thanks  might  be  returned 
to  the  gentlemen  of  the  Inns  of  Court  for  it."2 

He  now  passed  his  vacations  in  Oxfordshire,  affecting 
while  there  merely  to  be  a  country  squire  ;  yet  from  his 
knowledge  of  the  law,  he  was  called  upon  to  preside  as 
Chairman  of  the  Justices  of  Peace.  Speaking  of  one  in- 
stance which  occurred  in  1635,  he  gives  us  a  statement 
containing  a  lively  representation  of  the  opinions  and 
manners  of  the  times.  "  At  the  Quarter  Sessions  at  Ox- 
ford, I  was  put  into  the  chair  in  Court,  though  I  was  in 
colored  clothes,  a  sword  by  my  side,  and  a  falling  band, 
which  was  unusual  for  lawyers  in  those  days,  and  in  this 
garb  I  gave  the  Charge  to  the  Grand  Jury.  I  took  oc- 
casion to  enlarge  on  the  point  of  jurisdiction  in  the  tem- 
poral Courts  in  matters  ecclesiastical,  and  the  antiquity 
thereof  which  I  did  the  rather  because  the  spiritual  men 
began  in  those  days  to  swell  higher  than  ordinary,  and  to 
take  it  as  an  injury  to  the  church  that  anything  savoring 
of  the  spirituality  should  be  within  the  cognizance  of  ig- 
norant laymen.  The  gentlemen  and  freeholders  seemed 
well  pleased  with  my  charge,  and  the  management  of  the 
business  of  the  Sessions;  and  said  they  perceived  one 
might  speak  as  good  sense  in  a  falling  band  as  in  a  ruff."' 

He  now  began  gradually  to  associate  himself  with  those 
who  were  opposing  the  arbitrary  measures  of  the  Court. 
He  was  active  in  resisting  the  encroachments  of  the  Crown 
upon  the  rights  of  the  landholders  in  Whichwood  Forest, 
and  he  encouraged  his  kinsman,  Hampden,  in  the  great 
case  of  ship-money.  Yet  he  was  always  moderate,  and  he  did 

1  Mem.  p.  19.  a  Ibid.  p.  22.  3  Ibid.  p.  23. 


324     CHANCELLORS  OF  COMMONWEALTH.  [1641. 

not  wish  even  to  take  advantage  of  the  discontents  of  the 
Scots  on  account  of  episcopacy.  "  I  persuaded  my 
friends,"  said  he,  "  not  to  foment  these  growing  public 
differences,  nor  to  be  any  means  for  encouraging  a  foreign 
nation,  proud,  and  against  our  natural  Prince"  He  still 
continued  intimate  with  Hyde,  Falkland,  and  the  more 
reasonable  reformers. 

When  the  Long  Parliament  was  summoned  he  stood 
for  Great  Marlow,  and  was  beaten  by  unfair  means ;  but 
upon  a  petition  it  was  pronounced  by  the  House  of  Com- 
mons to  be  a  void  election, — and  on  a  new  writ  being 
issued,  he  was  returned.  He  made  his  maiden  speech  in 
the  debate  which  arose  upon  the  motion  that  Selden,  and 
the  other  members  of  the  House  who  were  illegally  im- 
prisoned in  1629,  should  receive  indemnification  out  of  the 
estates  of  the  Judges  who  had  been  parties  to  the  judgment 
of  the  Court  of  King's  Bench, — his  own  father  being  alleged 
to  be  one  of  them  ; — and  he  at  once  defended  his  father's 
memory  and  his  own  patrimony,  by  showing  that  his 
father  had  expressed  a  clear  opinion  for  admitting  the  de- 
fendants to  bail,  and  had  himself  undergone  persecution 
in  behalf  of  the  liberty  of  the  subject. 

So  favorable  an  impression  did  he  make  by  the  earnest- 
ness and  modesty  of  his  demeanor  on  this  occasion,  that 
he  was  elected  chairman  of  the  committee  appointed  to 
draw  up  the  impeachment  against  Lord  Strafford,  and 
employed  by  the  House  to  manage  the  seven  last  articles 
of  the  impeachment.  He  objected  to  have  anything  to 
do  with  one  of  them,  which  charged  the  Earl  with  a  de- 
sign of  bringing  over  the  army  of  Ireland  for  the  purpose 
of  reducing  England  to  subjection,  as  not  being  sup- 
ported by  sufficient  evidence,  "  thinking  it  not  honorable 
for  the  House  of  Commons  to  proceed  upon  an  article 
whereof  they  could  not  make  a  clear  proof."  On  his 
motion  this  article  would  have  been  struck  out,  had  it  not 
been  warmly  supported  by  Sir  Walter  Earle.  Where- 
upon it  was  retained,  and  assigned  to  this  gentleman  to 
manage  ;  but  he  made  such  a  wretched  hand  of  it,  that 
the  Queen,  inquiring  his  name,  said,  •'  that  water-dog  did 
bark,  but  not  bite,  but  the  rest  did  bite  close."  Strafford 
himself  bore  testimony  to  the  candor  and  fairness,  as  well 
as  talent,  with  which  Whitelock  discharged  his  part  in  the 
prosecution.  .  "  Glynne  and  Maynard,"  he  said,  "used 


1641.]  LORD     WHITELOCK.  325 

him  like  advocates ;  but  Palmer  and  Whitelock  like 
gentlemen,  and  yet  left  out  nothing  that  was  material  to 
be  urged  against  him."  Whitelock  bears  ample  testi- 
mony to  the  admirable  defense  of  the  noble  culprit. 
"Certainly,"  says  he,  in  closing  his  touching  narrative  of 
Strafford's  trial  and  execution,  "  never  any  man  acted 
such  a  part  on  such  a  theater,  with  more  wisdom,  con- 
stancy, and  eloquence,  with  greater  reason,  judgment, 
and  temper,  and  with  better  grace  in  all  his  words  and 
gestures,  than  this  great  and  excellent  person  did,  and  he 
moved  the  hearts  of  all  his  auditors,  some  few  excepted, 
to  remorse  and  pity."1 

At  this  time  it  depended  a  good  deal  upon  accident  to 
which  party  Whitelock  should  be  permanently  attached, 
for  some,  with  whom  he  now  co-operated  became  the 
chief  advisers  of  the  King  in  carrying  on  the  war  against 
the  parliament,  while  the  residue  assisted  in  bringing  the 
King  to  the  scaffold,  and  in  abolishing  monarchy  in  Eng- 
land: He  himself  still  supported  pacific  measures;  and 
in  the  debate  on  the  bill  for  arming  the  militia,  he  joined 
with  those  who  urged  that  the  King  should  be  again  pe- 
titioned to  place  the  sword  in  such  hands  as  he  and  the 
parliament  should  jointly  nominate,  and  "  who  would  be 
more  careful  to  keep  it  sheathed  than  to  draw  it."  When 
the  ordinance  of  the  two  Houses  upon  this  subject  passed 
without  the  concurrence  of  the  King,  whereby  in  reality 
his  authority  was  renounced,  though  all  in  public  employ- 
ment continued  to  swear  allegiance  to  him, — Whitelock 
had  serious  thoughts  of  joining  the  royalists,  or  of  retreat- 
ing into  private  life ;  but  he  was  persuaded  by  the  leaders 
of  the  popular  party  that  they  had  no  purpose  of  war 
with  the  King,  and  that  they  were  only  arming  to  defend 
themselves  and  the  liberties  of  the  nation.  Accordingly 
he  agreed  to  continue  to  keep  his  station  in  the  House  of 
Commons  at  Westminster,  and  he  accepted  a  commission 
as  a  deputy  lieutenant  in  the  military  array  about  to  be 
organized  in  Bucks  and  Oxfordshire,  where  his  property 
and  family  connections  chiefly  lay.  Still  he  implored  the 
parliament  to  make  the  experiment  of  further  overtures 
of  peace,  and  to  name  a  committee  to  review  the  former 
propositions  which  the  King  had  rejected.  In  his  Memoirs 
he  draws  a  lively  picture  of  the  silent  but  rapid  strides 

1  Mem.  44. 


326     CHANCELLORS  OF  COMMONWEALTH.  [1642. 

which  lead  to  civil  war.  "  We  scarce  know  how,  but  from 
paper  combats,  by  declarations,  remonstrances,  protesta- 
tions, votes,  messages,  answers,  and  replies,  we  are  now 
come  to  the  question  of  raising  forces,  and  naming  the 
general  and  officers  of  an  army.  But  what  may  be  the 
progress  hereof  the  poet  tells  you  : — 

"  '  Jusque  datum  sceleri  canimus,  populumque  potentem 
In  sua  victrici  conversum  viscera  dextra.'  "  ' 

The  die,  however,  was  now  cast ;  and,  instead  of  being, 
like  Hyde,  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  to  Charles  I.,  and 
Lord  Chancellor  to  Charles  II.,  Whitelock  was  destined 
to  draw  an  ordinance  for  establishing  a  pure  republic  in 
England,  and  to  hold  the  Great  Seal  under  a  Lord  Pro- 
tector. 

When  he  heard  of  the  King  erecting  the  royal  standard 
at  Nottingham,  instead  of  going  to  fight  under  it,  he  ac- 
cepted the  command  of  a  company  of  horse  in  Hampden's 
regiment,  composed. of  his  tenants  and  neighbors  in  Ox- 
fordshire ;  and,  marching  against  the  royalist  commander, 
Sir  John  Biron,  he  took  military  possession  of  Oxford, 
"being  welcomed  by  the  townsmen,"  he  tells  us,  "  more 
than  by  the  scholars."  In  consequence,  a  regiment  of 
horse  of  Prince  Rupert's  brigade  quartered  themselves  in 
his  house,  Fawley  Court,  near  Henley,  and,  "  indulging 
in  excess  and  rapine  of  every  kind,  destroyed  his  books, 
deeds,  and  manuscripts,  cut  open  his  bedding,  carried 
away  his  coach  and  four  horses  and  all  his  saddle-horses, 
killed  his  hounds,  of  which  he  had  a  very  fine  pack,  and 
destroyed  all  his  deer  and  winged  game."  He  was  so 
much  horrified  by  the  ravages  of  civil  war,  that  his  martial 
ardor  very  quickly  subsided  ;  and,  leaving  the  field  of 
arms  to  those  who  had  a  greater  taste  for  it,  he  returned 
to  his  post  in  the  parliament,  and  ever  after,  as  a  non- 
combatant,  steadily  supported  the  popular  side. 

We  next  find  him  on  a  very  different  scene — as  a  lay 
member  of  the  famous  Assembly  of  Divines  at  Westmins- 
ter.3 Here,  in  conjunction  with  Selden,  he  in  vain  com- 
bated the  position  that  "  presbytery  being  jure  divino,  no 
human  legislature  had  a  right,  in  any  degree,  to  interfere 
with  or  control  the  Presbyterian  church," — and  he  was 
branded  with  the  opprobrious  appellation  of  "  Erastian." 
1  Mem.  61.  3  Ibid.  99. 


1643.]  LORD     WHITELOCK.  327 

He  was  more  successful  when  the  resolution  of  the  Assem- 
bly in  favor  of  the  "Covenant  "  came  to  be  debated  in 
;the  House  of  Commons,  although,  on  one  occasion,  he 
!could  only  prevent  its  being  carried  by  making  a  very 
long  and  wearisome  speech  against  time,  till  a  sufficient 
number  of  "  Independent "  members  could  be  got  together, 
who,  for  the  nonce,  coalescing  with  a  small  body  of  Epis- 
copalians, threw  it  out. 

In  January,  1643,  he  was  named,  along  with  Holies 
and  other  popular  leaders,  a  Commissioner  to  carry  prop- 
ositions of  peace  to  the  King  at  Oxford.  This  appears 
to  have  been  a  very  disagreeable  service,  although  they 
had  a  safe  conduct.  At  the  inn  where  they  were  stationed 
during  the  negotiation,  a  great  bustle  being  heard  in  the 
hall,  it  was  found  that  some  of  the  officers  of  the  royal 
army  had  fallen  foul  of  the  Commissioners'  servants, 
calling  them,  and  their  masters,  and  the  parliament  who 
had  dispatched  them,  4<  rogues,  rebels,  and  traitors." 
The  Commissioners  having  ascertained  the  cause  of  the 
disturbance,  behaved  with  becoming  spirit.  "  Holies 
went  presently  to  one  of  the  King's  officers,  a  tall,  big, 
black  man,  and  taking  him  by  the  collar  shook  him,  and 
told  him  it  was  basely  and  unworthily  done  of  them  to 
abuse  their  servants  in  their  own  quarters,  contrary  to 
the  King's  safe  conduct,  and  took  away  his  sword  from 
him." — '7  I  did  the  same,"  adds  Whitelock,  "  to  another 
great  mastiff  fellow,  an  officer  also  of  the  King's  army, 
and  took  his  sword  from  him."  Nevertheless,  they  fell 
under  a  lively  suspicion  of  having,  during  this  mission, 
intrigued  with  the  King,  and  betrayed  the  parliament. 
Having  paid  a  visit  of  courtesy  to  the  Earl  of  Lindsey, 
who  lay  at  the  royal  quarters  languishing  from  the  mortal 
wounds  he  had  received  in  the  battle  of  Edge  Hill,  the 
King,  attended  by  Prince  Rupert,  came  as  if  casually,  into 
the  chamber,  and,  after  many  professions  of  esteem  for 
their  persons  and  characters,  requested  their  advice  as  to 
the  answer  he  should  give  to  the  propositions  of  the  par- 
liament, and  desired  them  to  confer  together  and  set 
down  something  in  writing  that  might  be  fit  for  him  to 
say,  with  a  view  to  bring  about  a  happy  settlement  of  all 
differences.  They,  acting  with  perfect  good  faith  to  their 
party,  retired  into  another  room,  and  having  agreed  on 

1  Mem.  67, 


328     CHANCELLORS  OF  COMMONWEALTH.  [1643. 

such  a  declaration  as  they  thought  might  best  tend  to  a 
pacific  issue  of  the  negotiation,  Whitelock  wrote  it  out  in 
a  feigned  hand  and  left  it  on  a  table,  where  Charles  soon 
found  it.  This  had  been  perceived  by  the  Lord  Saville, 
one  of  the  King's  attendants,  who  shortly  afterwards  re- 
volted to  the  parliament.  He,  joining  the  Presbyterian 
party,  who  were  eager  to  get  rid  of  Holies  and  Whitelock, 
accused  them  to  the  House  of  being  well  affected  to  the 
King,  and  of  having  secretly  corresponded  with  him  during 
their  residence  at  Oxford.  The  charge  was  referred  to  a 
select  committee,  who,  after  a  long  inquiry,  reported  in 
favor  of  the  accused,  being  mainly  influenced  by  the  bad 
character  of  the  accuser.  "  Thus  ended  this  knotty  and 
malicious  prosecution  in  the  honorable  discharge  of  those 
two  great  men.  Mr.  Whitelock  absented  himself  from 
the  House  when  they  came  to  give  judgment.  It  was 
observed  that  most  if  not  all  of  the  gentlemen  of  the  best 
interest  and  quality  in  the  House  were  for  acquitting  of 
them,  and  that  it  had  never  been  known  in  any  affair  be- 
fore that  held  so  many  days  that  the  young  gentlemen 
and  others  who  were  wont,  whatever  business  was  in 
agitation,  to  go  out  to  dinner  or  to  some  refreshments 
and  diversions,  should  attend  so  constantly  at  the  time 
that  business  was  in  debate,  and  not  stir  from  it."  ' 

Whitelock,  although  he  never  deserted  his  political  as- 
sociates, seems  to  have  talked  of  them  very  freely,  even 
to  their  opponents.  Clarendon  asserts  positively,  that 
both  during  the  negotiations  at  Oxford,  and  at  the  treaty 
of  Uxbridge  in  the  following  year,  where  also  Whitelock 
was  one  of  the  parliamentary  Commissioners,  and  was  in 
daily  intercourse  with  the  King's  Commissioners,  whom 
he  had  formerly  familiarly  known,  "he  used  with  them 
his  old  openness,  and  professed  his  detestation  of  all  the 
proceedings  of  the  parliamentarians,  yet  could  not  leave 
them." 

In   the   struggle   that   soon   arose   between   the    early 

1  Life  of  Whitelock,  p.  51.  This  passage  shows  us  that  even  when  the 
House  met  at  eight  in  the  morning,  and  in  the  fervor  of  the  Long  Parlia- 
ment, dinner  caused  a  serious  interruption  to  the  proceedings  of  the  legisla- 
ture. The  hour  of  twelve  approaching,  "  the  young  gentlemen  and  others  " 
disappeared,  and  the  House  was  deserted.  Whether  the  system  of  pairing 
had  then  begun,  I  do  not  find,  but  in  all  probability  a  Presbyterian  and  an 
Independent,  differing  on  everything  else,  often  came  to  an  understanding  that 
they  should  go  out  together  to  dine  at  the  ordinary. 


1647.]  LORD     WHITELOCK.  329 

leaders  of  the  popular  party  and  him  who  was  now  striv- 
ing to  supersede  them,  and  to  get  all  power  into  his  own 
hands,  Whitelock  long  strenuously  opposed  the  plan, 
which  he  detested,  for  the  establishing  of  a  military  govern- 
ment. He  spoke  and  voted  against  "  the  self-denying 
ordinance  "  as  a  device,  not  only  to  put  down  the  Pres- 
byterian sect,  whom  he  still  disliked,  but  to  strip  all  civil 
functionaries  of  office  and  of  influence.  Nevertheless,  ever 
a  mild  and  time-serving  politican,  he  would  not  quarrel 
with  Cromwell ;  and  when  consulted  by  the  Lord  General 
Essex  and  his  friends,  whether  the  leader  of  the  Inde- 
pendents might  not  be  proceeded  against  as  an  "  Incen- 
diary," he  advised  them  to  wait  for  better  proofs  before 
they  ventured  to  attack  a  person  of  such  quick  and  subtle 
parts,  and  who  had  secured  such  an  interest  in  the  House 
of  Commons. 

When  Cromwell's  ascendency  had  been  established, 
Whitelock  completely  succumbed,  being  desirous  of  doing 
as  much  good  as  he  could  for  his  country  and  for  himself 
under  the  dominion  which  he  had  mildly  attempted  to 
prevent.  Cromwell  now  treated  him  with  consideration 
and  kindness,  and  defeated  a  plan  of  his  enemies  to  get 
rid  of  him  by  sending  him  "  Lord  Justice  into  Ireland," 
saying  "  he  was  against  his  going  away,"  and  desiring  his 
company,  began  to  use  his  advice  in  the  administration  of 
civil  affairs.- 

Whitelock,  while  he  did  his  duty  in  parliament,  at- 
tended zealously  to  his  profession.  The  civil  war  being 
over,  the  practice  of  the  law  was  very  flourishing,  and  he 
not  only  was  the  favorite  leader  of  the  Oxford  Circuit,  but 
had  the  first  business  in  Westminster  Hall. 

In  September,  1647,  the  offer  was  made  to  him  of  being 
elected  Recorder  of  the  City  of  London  ;  but  he  declined 
the  appointment,  as  he  thought  it  might  interfere  with 
the  great  object  of  his  ambition,  which  was  to  preside  in 
the  Court  of  Chancery. 

We  have  seen  how,  in  March,  1648,  he  was,  by  an  or- 
dinance of  the  two  Houses,  named  Lord  Commissioner 
of  the  Great  Seal,  along  with  the  Earl  of  Kent,  Lord  Grey 
de  Werke,  and  Sir  Thomas  Widdrington.  The  following 
is  his  own  modest  account  of  this  transaction  : — 

"  These  Commissioners  were  said  to  be  agreed  upon  by 
the  private  junto  of  Cromwell's  party  beforehand  to  be 


330     CHANCELLORS  OF  COMMONWEALTH.  [1648. 

trusted  with  this  great  charge ;  and  in  the  debate  of  the 
business,  several  others  of  both  Houses  were  propounded  ; 
but,  after  a  great  debate,  these  three  only  were  pitched 
upon. 

"  The  Earl  of  Kent  being  a  very  honest,  just  man  of 
good  rational  parts  and  abilities,  and  of  an  ancient,  great 
family,  who  would  be  a  countenance  to  this  business,  was 
held  a  fit  person  for  the  Lords'  House. 

"  Sir  Thomas  Widdrington,  being  a  gentleman  of  known 
integrity,  and  of  great  abilities  in  his  profession,  and 
brother-in-law  to  the  General,  whose  sister  he  had  mar- 
ried, was  very  fit  to  be  one  of  the  House  of  Commons  to 
be  intrusted  with  so  weighty  an  employment. 

"  I  was  less  considerable  than  the  other  in  all  respects, 
yet  was  well  known  and  understood  in  the  House  by  my 
long  attendance  there,  and  by  them  judged  not  incapable 
of  this  employment.  Besides,  the  General  had  an  affec- 
tion for  me,  and  he  had  a  good  interest  in  the  House,  and 
Cromwell  and  his  party  were  willing  to  engage  me  as  far 
as  they  could  with  them. 

"  I  can  truly  say  I  never  heard  of  this  business  before- 
hand, nor  was  in  the  least  privy  to  it  or  acquainted  with 
it ;  but  God  was  pleased  so  to  order  it,  not  my  ambition 
that  sought  or  contrived  it,  for  I  may  be  believed  on 
much  experience,  that  such  employments  are  not  desira- 
ble by  a  prudent  and  quiet  spirit ;  they  seldom  afford 
quiet,  never  safety.  I  was  at  this  time  on  the  circuit  in 
great  practice,  wherein  none  of  my  profession  had  a  greater 
share  than  myself,  and  at  Gloucester  received  this  unex- 
pected news.  The  counsel,  the  officers,  and  the  attorneys, 
with  great  respect  and  much  civility,  wished  me  joy  of 
that  honorable  employment.  I  sent  to  my  friends  of  the 
House  to  know  if  my  present  attendance  was  expected 
by  the  House  ;  but  that  without  a  special  summons  I  did 
not  intend  to  return  to  London  till  after  the  circuit  should 
be  ended,  where  I  was  engaged  in  many  men's  busi- 
nesses." : 

Sergeant  Widdrington  was  at  this  time  likewise  upon 
his  circuit,  and  it  was  ordained  "  that,  till  the  beginning 
of  the  next  term,  the  Lords  Kent  and  Grey  should  be 
empowered  to  seal  all  commissions  and  writs."  The  two 
noble  Commissioners  were  accordingly  both  sworn  in 

1  Mem.  293. 


LORD     WHITELOCK.  331 

forthwith  in  the  presence  of  both  Houses.  Although  the 
King  was  now  in  solitary  confinement  in  Carisbrook  Castle, 
allowed  to  see  no  one  but  "  the  decrepit  old  man  who 
kindled  his  fire,"  and  "  the  vote  of  non-addresses"  had 
passed,  by  which  the  House  of  Commons  had  resolved 
that  they  would  have  no  further  communication  with  him, 
and  that  if  any  other  persons  did  so,  without  leave,  they 
should  be  subject  to  the  penalties  of  high  treason, — the 
Earl  of  Kent  and  Lord  Grey  began  with  swallowing  the 
old  oaths  of  "  allegiance  and  supremacy,"  and  having 
further  taken  the  oath  of  office,  and  the  oath  under  the 
Triennial  Act,  the  Earl  of  Manchester,  Speaker  of  the 
House  of  Lords,  surrendered  the  Great  Seal  into  their 
hands.1 

On  the  first  day  of  Easter  Term,  Whitelock  and  Wid- 
drington  having  returned  from  the  circuit,  were  sworn  in 
with  the  same  solemnity,  and  the  four  Lords  Commis- 
sioners went  in  procession  from  the  House  of  Lords  to 
the  Court  of  Chancery,  in  Westminster  Hall,  having  the 
Great  Seal  carried  before  them."  A  salary  of  ^1,000  a 
year  was  voted  to  each  of  them,  to  be  paid  out  of  the 
revenue  of  the  customs,  in  full  of  all  pensions,  fees,  wages, 
and  allowances  from  the  Crown.3 

A  few  days  after  they  had  been  installed,  the  Lords 
Commissioners  went  into  the  Court  of  Exchequer,  and 
having  taken  their  seats  on  the  bench,  with  the  Barons 
on  each  hand  of  them,  a  great  many  lawyers  and  others 
standing  round,  they  swore  in  Mr.  Sergeant  Wilde  to  be 
Chief  Baron.  Lord  Commissioner  Whitelock  appears 
always  to  have  taken  the  lead,  and  he  now  thus  began  his 
address  to  the  new  Judge  : — 

"  Mr.  Sergeant  Wilde, 

"The  Lords  and  Commons  in  parliament,  taking  notice 
of  the  great  inconveniency  in  the  course  of  justice  for 

1  Lords'  Journ.  x.  116,  117.  2  Whitel.  300. 

8  Com.  Jour.  v.  528.  Whitelock  says  he  was  a  loser  by  his  elevation,  as 
his  professional  income  had  amounted  to  .£2,000  a  year. 

4  At  this  time  there  was  great  promotion  in  the  law,  by  order  of  the  two 
Houses,  on  the  recommendation  of  the  Lords  Commissioners  ;  Sergeant 
Rolle  being  made  Lord  Chief  Justice  of  the  King's  Bench  ;  Jermyn  and 
Browne,  puisne  Judges  of  that  Court ;  Solicitor  General  St.  John.  Chief  Jus- 
tice of  the  Common  Pleas  ;  Beddingfield  and  Cresswell,  puisne  Judges  of 
that  Court ;  Sergeant  Wilde,  Chief  Baron  of  the  Exchequer ;  and  Gates  a 
puisne  Baron. 


332     CHANCELLORS  OF  COMMONWEALTH.  [1648. 

want  of  the  ancient  and  usual  number  of  Judges  in  each 
of  the  high  Courts  of  Westminster,  whereby  is  occasioned 
delay,  and  both  suitors  and  others  are  the  less  satisfied, 
and  desirous  and  careful  that  justice  may  be  administered 
more  majorum,  equal  rights  done  to  all  men  according  to 
the  custom  of  England  ;  they  have  resolved  to  fill  up  the 
benches  with  persons  of  approved  fidelity  and  affection  to 
the  public,  and  of  piety,  learning,  and  integrity  ;  and  hav- 
ing found  by  long  experience  among  themselves,  that  you, 
Mr.  Sergeant  Wilde,  are  a  person  thus  qualified,  and  very 
well  deserving  from  the  Commonwealth,  they  have  thought 
fit  to  place  you  in  one  of  the  highest  seats  of  judicature, 
and  have  ordained  you  to  be  Lord  Chief  Baron  of  this 
Court.  The  freedom  of  this  choice,  without  seeking  or 
other  means  of  promotion,  this  public  consent  for  your 
preferment,  can  not  but  bring  much  satisfaction  to  your 
own  conscience,  and  encouragement  to  your  endeavors, 
against  all  burdens  and  difficulties  which  attend  so  great 
and  weighty  an  employment."  He  then  proceeds  at 
enormous  length  to  dilate  upon  the  antiquity  of  the  Court 
of  Exchequer,  and  the  dignity  and  duty  of  the  Chief 
Baron.  On  this  last  topic  he  says,  "The  life  of  a  Judge 
is  militia  qucedam,  if  not  martyrium  quoddam,  in  both 
which  courage  is  .requisite  against  the  assaults  of  friends, 
of  family,  of  servants,  and  the  many  importunities  and 
temptations  which  he  shall  meet  withal :  and  a  martyr 
he  must  be  in  bearing  provocations,  censures,  scandals, 
and  reproaches,  which  will  be  cast  upon  every  Judge;  one 
party  being  always  displeased,  and  not  sparing,  especially 
in  these  times,  to  censure  the  judgment,  be  it  never  so 
upright.  He  must  want  no  courage  to  resist  even  the 
highest  and  greatest  powers."  He  concludes  with  a  warn- 
ing which  one  might  have  hoped  would  have  been 
unnecessary  for  the  republican  Judge.  "  Hate  covetous- 
ness,  which  embraceth  bribery.  Bribery  doth  blind  the 
eyes  of  the  wise  and  pervert  judgment.  How  odious  this 
was  to  the  people  of  Rome,  appears  by  the  oration  of 
Piso,  in  the  senate,  mentioned  in  Tacitus;  and  in  our 
nation,  by  the  great  examples  of  Justice  upon  corrupt 
Judges,  as  in  Edward  I.'s  time  when  the  Lord  Chief  Baron, 
among  others  was  ransomed  at  30,000  marks,  which  in  our 
account  at  this  day  is  .£10,000."  He  softens  all,  however, 
by  the  quotation — 


1648.]  LORD     WHITELOCK.  333 

"  Qui  monet  ut  facias  quod  jam  facis,  ille  monendo 
Laudat  et  hortatu  comprobat  acta  suo." 

The  same  term  there  was  a  still  more  elaborate  display 
of  his  learning  and  eloquence  on  a  "  call  of  Sergeants,"  in 
which  Lord  Commissioner  Whitelock  was  himself  included. 
The  new  Sergeants  having  presented  themselves  at  the 
bar,  he  thus  addressed  them  :' — "  It  hath  pleased  the  par- 
liament in  commanding  these  writs  to  issue  forth,  to 
manifest  their  constant  resolution  to  maintain  the  old 
settled  form  of  government  and  laws  of  the  kingdom,2  and 
to  manifest  their  respect  for  the  profession  of  the  law,  and 
to  bestow  a  particular  mark  of  favor  upon  you  as  eminent 
members  of  it."  He  then  proposes  to  discourse  on  the 
antiquity  and  dignity  of  "the  order  of  the  Coif,"  stating 
many  reasons  for  undertaking  the  task, — more  especially 
"  his  own  affection  to  the  degree,  he  being  himself  the  son 
of  a  Sergeant,  and  having  the  honor  to  be  one  of  their 
number  in  this  call,  and  acknowledging  that  both  in  his 
descent  and  fortune  he  was  a  great  debtor  to  the  law." 
He  is  particularly  indignant  when  he  comes  to  wipe  off  an 
aspersion  cast  upon  the  Sergeants  by  a  libelous  author, 
that  formerly  they  publicly  plied  for  business,  each  having 
a  stand  which  was  against  one  of  the  pillars  in  St.  Paul's 
Cathedral,—"  that  they  kept  their  pillars  at  Paul's 
where  their  clients  might  find  them, — as  if  they  did  little 
better  than  emendicare  pattern"  He  explains  this  by  the 
custom,  upon  a  call,  of  every  one  of  them  being  brought 
to  a  pillar  in  Paul's,  and  there  left  for  a  time  for  private 
devotion:  "  Our  English  poet  Chaucer  (whom  I  think  not 
improper  to  cite,  being  one  of  the  greatest  clerks  and 
wits  of  his  time)  had  a  better  opinion  of  the  state  of 
a  Sergeant,  as  he  expresseth  in  his  prologue  of  '  The 
Sergeant  ': — 

1  The  Commissioners  of  the  Great  Seal  having  sat  in  the  Court  of  Chan- 
cery, hearing  motions  till  past  two  o'clock,  the  new  Sergeants  presented 
themselves  in  their  parti-colored  robes  with  gentlemen  of  the  Inns  of  Court. 
Then  came  the  Judges  of  the  King's  Bench,  and  the  Commissioners  and 
Judges  went  into  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  where  they  took  their  places 
on  the  Bench.  When  the  new  Sergeants  had  counted,  their  Colts  delivered 
rings — first  to  the  Earl  of  Kent,  then  to  Lord  Grey,  next  to  Lord  Commis- 
sioner Whitelock,  then  to  the  Chief  Justice,  and  the  other  Judges  according 
to  their  rank. —  Whit.  Mem.  356. 

*  N.B.  They  were  now  deliberating  about  the  King's  trial- — to  be  followed 
by  the  suppression  ,of  the  House  of  Lords  and  abolition  of  monarchy. 


334     CHANCELLORS  OF  COMMONWEALTH.  [1648. 

'A  Sergeant  at  law,  wary  and  wise, 
That  oft  had  been  at  the  Pervise, 
There  was  also,  full  of  rich  excellence, 
Discreet  he  was,  and  of  great  reverence.' 

"  And  in  his  description  of  the   Franklin  he  saith  to 
him: 

'  At  Sessions  there  was  he  Lord  and  Sire, 
Full  oft  had  been  Knight  of  the  Shire, 
A  Sheriff  had  been,  and  a  Contour  j1 
Was  nowhere  such  a  worthy  Vavasour.'  8 

Brook  saith  that  Serviens  ad  legem  est  nostne  de  dignite 
comme  chevalier ;  and  it  is  character  indelibilis,  no  ac- 
cession of  honor,  or  office,  or  remotion  from  them  takes 
away  this  dignity,  but  he  remains  as  Sergeant  still.  Their 
robes  and  officers,  their  bounty  in  giving  rings,  their 
feasts,  which  Fortescue  saith  were  coronationis  instar,  and 
continued  anciently  seven  days,  and  Kings  and  Queens 
were  often  present  at,  and  all  ceremonies  and  solemnities 
in  their  creation  do  sufficiently  express  the  state  due  unto 
them."'  He  concludes  by  giving  some  wholesome  advice, 
the  necessity  for  which  does  not  exalt  our  ideas  of  the 
liberality  and  honor  of  the  bar  in  those  days :  "  For  your 
duty  to  particular  clients  you  may  consider  that  some  are 
rich  ;  yet  with  such  there  must  be  no  endeavor  to  lengthen 
causes  to  continue  fees.  Some  are  poor  ;  yet  their  busi- 

1  Sergeant.  2  An  ancient  title  of  nobility. 

8  Without  any  disrespect  to  the  coif,  I  must  be  allowed  to  say  that  the  re- 
sult of  an  investigation  I  had  once  occasion  to  make  on  this  subject,  was, 
that  anciently  the  Sergeants,  after  going  into  Court  at  eight,  and  dining  at 
twelve,  did  regularly  repair  in  the  afternoon  to  Paul's  to  meet  their  clients 
who  resided  within  the  walls  of  the  city  of  London.  This  is  corroborated  by 
the  assignment  of  a  pillar  to  each  on  their  call,  and  by  the  quotation  from 
Chaucer — for  the  "  Pervise  "  was  a  sort  of  Exchange  at  Paul's,  where  all  ranks 
met  to  do  business.  But  there  was  nothing  discreditable  in  this  custom.  In 
those  times,  and  long  afterwards,  barristers  of  every  degree  were  consulted 
without  the  intervention  of  attorneys.  An  attorney  was  only  employed  in  the 
actual  processes  of  the  Court.  Even  in  Anne's  reign  the  counselor  used  to 
see  his  clients,  before  breakfast  and  at  night,  at  the  coffee-houses  around  the 
Temple.  (See  The  Spectator.)  An  eminent  counsel  in  the  reign  of  George 
IV.  talked  of  reviving  this  practice,  when  the  attorneys  conspired  against  him. 
I  suppose  that  in  those  days  the  Sergeant  or  barrister  made  up  his  own  brief, 
and  himself  took  what  fee  he  could  bargain  for,  or  was  customary,  from  the 
client.  The  attorney  has  now  become  an  adviser,  and  keeps  the  key  of  the 
barrister's  chambers. — So  the  apothecary  has  invaded  upon  the  physician. — 
The  young  barrister  had  then  also  the  stewardship  of  manors ;  settlement- 
drawing,  even  when  on  circuit— (See  The  Clandestine  Marriage,  and 
Hogarth's  Marriage  a-la-Mode)—a\\  now  usurped  by  attorneys.  But  it  is 
said  that  some  provincial  counsel  still  "  keep  the  market "  in  the  towns  near 
which  they  reside. 


1648.]  LORD     WHITELOCK.  335 

ness  must  not  be  neglected  if  their  cause  be  honest.  Some 
are  peaceable  ;  stir  them  not  to  strife.  Some  are  conten- 
tious; advise  them  to  reconcilement  with  their  adversary. 
Amongst  your  clients,  and  all  others,  endeavor  to  gain  and 
preserve  that  estimation  and  respect  which  is  just  to  your 
degree,  and  to  an  honest  and  discreet  person.  Among 
your  neighbors  in  the  country,  never  foment,  but  pacify 
contentions.  The  French  proverb  is — 

'  Bonne  terre,  mauvais  chemin  ; 
Bon  avocat,  mauvais  voisin.' 

I  hope  this  will  never  be  turned  by  any  here  into  English." 
It  seems  marvelous  to  us,  although  we  live  in  quiet  and 
dull  times,  that  sensible  men  could  then  have  felt  an  in- 
terest in  such  mummeries.  The  treaty  of  Newport,  the 
last  attempt  at  reconciliation  with  Charles,  had  just  been 
broken  off,  and  the  crisis  of  the  struggle  between  the  par- 
liament and  the  army  was  close  at  hand.  After  a  debate 
in  the  Commons,  which  lasted  three  whole  days  and  one 
nigh't,  a  resolution  was  passed  against  Cromwell's  party, 
"that  the  offers  of  the  Sovereign  furnished  a  sufficient 
ground  for  the  future  settlement  of  the  kingdom."1 — The 
remedy  prescribed  for  such  disorders  was  Pride  s  purge. 

The  Lords  Commissioners  had  appointed  the  following 
day  for  holding  their  "  second  seal  after  term."  When 
they  arrived  at  the  House  of  Lords'  door,  a  little  before 
eight,  they  found  two  troopers  there,  who  denied  them 
entrance,  till  saying  "  they  were  going  about  Chancery 
business,"  they  were  allowed  to  pass.  They  found  the 
Court  of  Requests,  the  stairs  of  the  House  of  Commons, 
and  the  passage  leading  thence  down  to  Westminster 
Hall,  full  of  soldiers.  While  they  were  meditating  re- 
treat, Lord  Grey  de  Groby,  who  was  acting  in  concert 
with  Colonel  Pride,  came  up  to  them,  and  advised  them 
to  sit,  assuring  them  that  they  were  in  no  danger,  and 
that  the  preparations  they  saw  were  only  against  malig- 
nant members  of  the  House  of  Commons.  They  accord- 
ingly proceeded  to  the  Court  of  Chancery,  and  began  to 
call  over  the  bar  for  motions.  In  a  little  time  Lord  Com- 
missioner Widdrington  was  fetched  away  by  a  message 
from  Cromwell,  who  expressed  a  desire  to  see  him  ;  and  a 
member  of  the  House  of  Commons  came  into  Court,  and 
mentioned  how  all  who  had  voted  in  the  preceding  night 

1  3  Parl.  Hist.  1239. 


336     CHANCELLORS  OF  COMMONWEALTH.  [1648. 

were  refused  permission  to  take  their  seats,  and  many  of 
them  had  been  made  prisoners.  The  Lords  Commis- 
sioners thereupon  rose,  thinking  that  the  counsel  and 
suitors  could  not  attend  with  freedom,  and  not  being 
without  apprehensions  for  their  own  personal  safety.  The 
Earl  of  Kent  and  Lord  Grey  de  Werke  asked  Lord  Com- 
missioner Whitelock  to  go  with  them  to  the  House  of 
Peers,  where  they  were  sure  to  be  protected.  On  their 
way  thither  they  met  Colonel  Pride  and  Lord  Grey  de 
Groby,  watching  for  obnoxious  members,  many  of  whom 
they  had  secured  ;  but  the  Lords  Commissioners  were 
allowed  to  pass  unmolested.  They  were  advised  by  the 
assembled  Peers  to  return  to  the  Court  of  Chancery, — 
but  Whitelock  would  not  act  without  the  sanction  of  the 
House  of  Commons.  He  proceeded  thither,  and  stated 
the  doubt  which  he  and  his  brother  Commissioners  enter- 
tained as  to  whether,  in  the  existing  confusion,  they 
should  sit  or  adjourn.  The  party  now  dominant,  afraid 
of  the  imputation  upon  the  army,  that  they  interrupted 
the  course  of  justice,  advised  the  Commissioners  by  all 
means  to  sit,  and  proceed  with  business.  Whitelock  then 
went  to  the  Court  of  Wards,  where  he  was  joined  by  the 
two  Peers  and  Widdrington,  and  they  sat  till  six  in  the 
evening, — when  the  soldiers  were  gone,  and  all  was 
tranquil.  Meanwhile  Pride  excluded  ninety-six  members 
and  imprisoned  forty-seven — reducing  the  assembly,  once 
so  numerous  and  respectable,  to  a  small  number  of  indi- 
viduals, who,  in  the  quaint  language  of  the  times,  were 
afterwards  dignified  with  the  appellation  of  the  "  Rump." 

As  soon  as  the  Court  rose,  Whitelock  and  Widdrington 
went  to  the  house  of  Lenthal,  the  Speaker  and  Master  of 
the  Rolls,  in  Chancery  Lane,  where  they  met  General 
Cromwell,  and  had  a  long  conversation  with  him  respecting 
the  present  posture  of  affairs, — he  trying  to  persuade  them 
that  he  still  hoped  for  a  settlement  with  the  King.  Two 
days  afterwards  he  made  them  draw  up  a  paper  for 
general  circulation,  to  palliate  the  violence  offered  to  the 
House  of  Commons,  and  holding  out  a  prospect  of  the 
restitution  of  the  secluded  members. 

But  on  the  23rd  of  December  a  debate  arose  in  the 
Commons  on  the  proposal  for  bringing  "delinquents"  to 
justice,  in  which  the  design  of  taking  off  the  King  was 
distinctly  avowed.  Several  members  made  no  scruple  to 


GREAT  SEAL  OF  THE  COMMON'WKALTH. 


1648.]  LORD     WHITELOCK.  337 

mention  his  Majesty  by  name,  as  "the  greatest  delin- 
quent," and  as  such  to  be  brought  to  justice.  They  said 
he  had  been  guilty  of  treason  against  the  nation,  and  it 
remained  for  the  representatives  of  the  nation  to  bring 
him  to  punishment ;  he  had  shed  the  blood  of  man,  and 
God  made  it  a  duty  to  shed  his  blood  in  return.  They 
urged  that  the  life  of  the  King  was  incompatible  with 
their  safety;  if  he  were  restored,  they  would  become  the 
"objects  of  royal  vengeance ;  if  he  were  detained  in  prison, 
the  public  tranquillity  would  be  disturbed  by  a  succession 
of  plots  in  his  favor;  and  though  in  private  assassination 
there  was  something  base  and  cowardly,  from  which  all 
Englishmen  revolted, —  to  bring  him  to  a  public  trial 
would  be  to  proclaim  their  confidence  in  the  goodness  of 
their  cause,  would  give  to  the  world  a  splendid  proof  of 
the  sovereignty  of  the  people  and  of  the  responsibility  of 
Kings,  and  would  shed  glory  on  the  English  name  to  the 
latest  generation. 

Whitelock,  and  several  other  members  still  allowed  to 
sit,  disapproved  of  this  course,  and  contended  that  the 
person  of  the  King  was  sacred  ;  that  history  afforded  no 
precedent  of  a  sovereign  compelled  to  plead  before  a 
judicature  composed  of  his  own  subjects;  that  measures 
of  vengeance  could  only  serve  to  widen  the  bleeding 
wounds  of  the  country;  and  that  a  deed  which  would  be 
regarded  with  horror  by  the  nation  would  only  hasten  a 
reaction  in  favor  of  those  arbitrary  principles  which  they 
had  hitherto  successfully  combated. 

Cromwell  pretended  to  be  neuter.  "  Sir,"  said  he,  "  if 
any  man  whatsoever  have  carried  on  this  design  of  depos- 
ing the  King  and  of  disinheriting  his  posterity,  or  if  any 
man  have  still  such  a  design,  he  must  be  the  greatest 
traitor  and  rebel  in  the  world ;  but  since  Providence  has 
cast  this  upon  us,  I  can  not  but  submit  to  Providence, 
though  I  am  not  yet  prepared  to  give  you  any  advice." 
His  wish  was  well  known  to  be  strongly  in  favor  of  the 
measure,  and  the  fear  of  seclusion  and  of  personal  violence 
lowered  the  tone  and  lessened  the  number  of  its  op- 
ponents. They  did  not  venture  to  divide  the  House,  lest 
their  names  should  be  handed  about  like  those  of  the 
"  Straffordians,"  and  a  committee  of  thirty-eight  mem- 
bers was  appointed  to  receive  informations  and  examina- 
tions, and  to  prepare  charges  against  the  King  and  all 


338     CHANCELLORS  OF  COMMONWEALTH.  [1648. 

other  delinquents  whom  it  might  be  thought  fit  to  bring 
to  condign  punishment.1 

On  the  26th  of  December,  the  Lords  Commissioners 
Whitelock  and  Widdrington  received  a  summons  to  at- 
tend this  Committee.  It  would  have  been  a  great  ad- 
vantage to  Cromwell  if  he  could  have  prevailed  on  either 
of  them  to  preside  in  the  High  Court  of  Justice  he  was 
planning,  from  their  reputation  as  lawyers,  and  the 
authority  they  had  gained  by  having  sometime  filled  the 
highest  office  in  the  law ;  and  he  had  hopes  of  over- 
coming their  scruples,  the  one  being  his  kinsman  and  the 
other  his  fast  friend.  But  he  was  disappointed.  They 
happened  to  be  consulting  together  on  a  case  which  had 
been  argued  before  them  when  the  summons  was  served 
upon  them.  Whitelock  immediately  announced  his  reso- 
lution "  not  to  meddle  with  the  King's  trial,  it  being  quite 
contrary  to  his  judgment,  as  he  had  freely  declared  himself 
in  the  House."  Widdrington  said  he  was  of  the  same 
opinion,  but  that  he  knew  not  where  to  go  out  of  the 
way,  that  the  Committee  might  not  know  where  to  send 
for  him.  Whitelock  replied,  "  My  coach  is  ready  :  I  had 
made  up  my  mind  to  go  out  of  town  this  very  morning, 
on  purpose  to  avoid  this  unhappy  business.  I  pray  you 
go  along  with  me:  I  shall  be  glad  of  your  company,  and 
we  may  remain  quiet  at  my  country-house  till  it  is  over." 

They  instantly  drove  off,  and  remained  concealed  till 
the  trial  was  actually  begun.  They  certainly  would  have 
acted  a  more  manly  part  if  they  had  boldly  attempted 
to  prevent  that  which  they  so  much  condemned  ;  and  if 
Bradshaw  sincerely  approved  of  the  prosecution,  he  in- 
curred less  moral  guilt,  by  accepting  the  office  which  they 
declined. 

After  their  flight,  all  opposition  to  the  proceeding 
ceased  in  the  Commons.  A  preliminary  resolution  was 
unanimously  voted,  "  that  by  the  fundamental  laws  of 
this  kingdom,  it  is  treason  in  the  King  of  England  to  levy 
war  against  the  parliament  and  kingdom  of  England ;" 
and  an  ordinance  was  unanimously  passed  constituting  a 
Court  of  Justice,  to  consist  of  the  four  Lords  Commis- 
sioners of  the  Great  Seal,  the  two  Chief  Justices,  the 
Chief  Baron,  the  Lord  Fairfax,  Lieutenant  General  Crom- 
well, Sergeant  Bradshaw,  and  various  other  noblemen, 

1  3  Parl.  Hist.  1253. 


i643.]  LORD     WHITELOCK.  339 

members  of  the  House  of  Commons,  and  military  officers, 
for  the  trial  of  CHARLES  STUART  for  the  various  treason- 
able offenses  recited  in  the  preamble, — which  roundly 
asserts  that  he  is  guilty  of  them,  and  that  he  is  deserving 
of  condign  punishment. 

When  the  resolution  and  ordinance  came  to  be  discussed 
in  the  Upper  House,  there  were  only  thirteen  Peers 
present,  the  rest  being  kept  away  by  apprehension, 
although  no  actual  violence  had  been  used  to  exclude 
them.  The  Earl  of  Manchester  remembered  that,  when 
Lord  Kimbolton,  he  had  been  himself  very  irregularly 
prosecuted  for  high  treason  by  the  King's  personal  order, 
and  knew  that  it  was  certainly  then  intended  to  proceed 
to  extremities  against  him  and  the  five  members  of  the 
House  of  Commons  ;  yet  he  began  the  debate,  and  gener- 
ously moved  to  negative  the  resolution,  and  to  reject  the 
ordinance.  He  showed  that,  by  the  fundamental  laws  of 
England,  the  parliament  consists  of  King,  Lords,  and 
Commons;  that  the  King  only  hath  power  to  call  and 
dissolve  them,  and  to  confirm  all  their  acts;  that, 
without  him,  there  can  be  no  parliament :  and  therefore 
that  it  was  absurd  to  say,  "  the  King  can  be  a  traitor 
against  the  parliament." 

The  Earl  of  Northumberland,  who  had  taken  the  popu- 
lar side. throughout  the  contest,  now  said,  "the  greatest 
part,  even  twenty  to  one,  of  the  people  of  England  were 
not  yet  satisfied  whether  the  King  made  war  against  the 
Houses  first,  or  the  Houses  first  against  him  ;  and,  besides, 
if  the  King  did  levy  war  first,  there  was  no  law  extant  to 
make  it  treason  for  him  to  do  so."  The  Earl  of  Denbigh 
complained  that  the  Commons  had  had  the  presumption 
to  put  in  his  name  as  one  of  the  King's  Judges,  and  swore 
that  he  would  sooner  be  torn  to  pieces  than  have  any 
share  in  so  infamous  a  transaction.  The  motion  being 
put  to  agree  with  the  resolution  and  ordinance,  it  was 
negatived  nemine  dissentiente  ;  and  the  Lords,  rashly  pre- 
suming that  nothing  could  be  done  in  the  way  of  legisla- 
tion without  their  assent,  and  resolving  to  avoid  any  im- 
portunity upon  the  subject,  adjourned  for  a  week. — But 
before  that  week  expired,  the  shadow  of  their  power  had 
vanished. 

The  Commons  having  gone  though  the  form  of  ap- 
pointing a  committee  to  examine  the  Lords'  Journals,  for 


340    CHANCELLORS  OF  COMMONWEALTH.  [1649. 

the  purpose  of  finding  what  they  had  done  upon  the  resolu- 
tion and  ordinance  sent  up  to  them  respecting  the  trial  of 
Charles  Stuart,  and  having  had  a  long  debate  with  closed 
doors,  came  to  the  following  resolutions:  "That  the 
people  are,  under  God,  the  original  of  all  just  power  ;  that 
the  Commons  of  England  in  parliament  assembled,  being 
chosen  by  and  representing  the  people,  have  the  supreme 
power  in  the  nation;  and. that  whatsoever  is  enacted  or 
declared  for  law  by  the  Commons  in  parliament  assembled 
hath  the  force  of  law,  and  all  the  people  of  this  nation  are 
concluded  thereby,  although  the  consent  of  King  or 
House  of  Peers  be  not  had  thereunto."  They  then  passed 
an  ordinance  for  the  trial  of  the  King  in  the  same  terms 
as  the  former,  only  omitting  all  notice  of  the  Lords. 

At  the  same  time  it  was  resolved  to  have  a  new  Great 
Seal  instead  of  that  hitherto  used,  which  bore  the  King's 
name  and  insignia.  A  committee  appointed  to  consider 
the  subject  reported,  that  the  new  Great  Seal  ought  to 
have  on  one  side  the  map  of  England,  Ireland,  Jersey, 
and  Guernsey,  with  the  arms  of  England  and  Ireland,  and 
the  inscription,  "  The  Great  Seal  of  England,  1648;" — 
and  that  on  the  other  side  there  should  be  a  representa- 
tion of  the  House  of  Commons  sitting, — with  the  Speaker 
in  the  chair, — and  the  inscription,  "  In  the  first  year  of 
freedom,  by  God's  blessing  restored,  1648."  This  Seal 
was  immediately  ordered,  and  a  sum  of  £60  was  voted 
towards  the  expense  of  making  it.1 

Lords  Commissioners  Whitelock  and  Widdrington  re- 
mained in  concealment  till  they  heard  that  the  High 
Court  of  Justice  had  met,  had  elected  Sergeant  Bradshaw 
for  President,  and  had  made  all  the  preliminary  arrange- 
ments for  the  trial.  On  the  2Oth  of  January,  the  day 
when  the  trial  actually  began  in  Westminster  Hall,  they 
did  not  appear  when  their  names  were  called  ;  but  the 
King  having  refused  to  plead,  or  to  recognize  the  au- 
thority of  his  Judges,  the  Court  rose  at  an  early  hour,  and 
the  House  of  Commons  sitting  as  usual,  they  took  their 
seats  in  that  assembly.  In  reality,  they  were  acting  a 
trimming,  cowardly,  and  base  part,  and  without  incurring 
the  danger  of  being  accessory  to  the  King's  death,  wished 
to  preserve  the  favor  of  the  ruling  party.  Whitelock  says, 

1  2  Parl.  Hist.  1255-1258.     Com.  Jour.  vi.  115. 


1649.]  LORD     WHITELOCK.  341 

"  Some  .looked  very  shy  upon  us,  but  others  bid  us  wel- 
come, and  seemed  to  be  glad  to  see  us  there." 

As  Hilary  Term  ought  regularly  to  have  begun  on  the 
23rd  of  January,  and  Westminster  Hall  was  entirely  occu- 
pied with  the  High  Court  of  Justice,  the  Lords  Commis- 
sioners were  required  to  issue  an  order  under  the  Great 
Seal  for  postponing  the  term,  according  to  a  power  which 
had  belonged  to  the  prerogative  of  the  Crown  ;  but  the 
Earl  of  Kent  and  Lord  Grey  de  Werke  positively  objected 
to  this,  saying  that  under  the  "  ordinance  of  the  Lords 
and  Commons  for  regulating  the  Great  Seal,"  which  still 
remained  in  full  force,  no  act  could  be  done  without  the 
concurrence  of  one  noble  Commissioner;  and  the  twelve 
Judges  being  consulted,  declared  that  without  an  order 
under  the  Great  Seal  they  must  go  to  Westminster  Hall, 
and  begin  the  business  of  their  several  Courts  at  the  ac- 
customed time.  Whitelock  went  to  the  House  of  Com- 
mons and  explained  this  difficulty — when  an  ordinance 
was  immediately  passed  commanding  him  and  Lord  Com- 
missioner Widdrington,  without  the  concurrence  of  either 
of  the  other  Commissioners,  to  use  the  Great  Seal  for  all 
purposes — and  the  required  order  was  issued,  although 
Kent  and  Grey  were  present  when  it  was  sealed,  and  pro- 
tested against  it.  The  King's  trial  proceeded  without  in- 
terruption ;  and  on  the  2/th  of  January  the  awful  sen- 
tence was  pronounced,  that  CHARLES  STUART  should  be 
beheaded  as  "  a  tyrant,  traitor,  murderer,  and  public  and 
implacable  enemy  to  the  Commonwealth  of  England." 

Lords  Commissioners  Whi.telock  and  Widdrington  were 
absent  from  the  meeting  of  the  House  of  Commons  held 
on  the  3Oth  of  January  after  the  bloody  scene  had  been 
acted  in  front  of  the  banqueting  house  at  Whitehall,  and 
they  seem  to  have  thought  that  they  were  functi  officio, 
as  there  had  been  no  ordinance  for  the  use  of  the  new 
Great  Seal  which  the  House  of  Commons  had  ordered. 
Indeed,  Widdrington,  who  was  by  much  the  more  scrupu- 
lous of  the  two,  had  been  horror-struck  by  the  King's 
execution,  and  for  some  time  adhered  to  a  resolution  he 
expressed  not  to  acknowledge  a  regicide  government. 

Lord  Grey  de  Werke  retired  into  the  country  in  des- 
pair ;  but  the  Earl  of  Kent,  who  had  firmer  nerves,  made 
a  dying  effort  for  his  office  and  his  order.  On  the  1st  of 

1  Memorials. 


342     CHANCELLORS  OF  COMMONWEALTH.  [1649. 

February,  to  which  day  the  House  of  Lords  had  ad- 
journed, he  and  four  other  Peers  met,  and  having  called 
the  Earl  of  Denbigh  to  the  woolsack,  as  Speaker,  they 
proceeded  to  business  without  taking  any  notice  of  the 
proceedings  of  the  Commons,  by  which  their  authority 
had  been  disowned.  They  were  willing  to  have  passed 
a  prospective  ordinance,  "  that  if  hereafter  a  King  of  Eng- 
land should  try  to  subvert  the  fundamental  laws  of  the 
kingdom,  and  make  war  against  the  Parliament,  he  should 
be  guilty  of  high  treason,  and  liable  to  be  brought  to 
trial  before  a  High  Court  of  Justice."  On  the  motion  of 
the  Earl  of  Kent,  a  message  was  sent  down  to  the  Com- 
mons "  that  the  Lords  had  thought  fit  to  name  a  commit- 
tee of  nine  of  their  House,  in  this  conjuncture  of  time, 
to  join  with  a  proportionable  number  of  the  Commons  to 
meet  the  next  morning  in  the  Lord  Keeper's  lodgings,  if 
it  might  stand  with  their  conveniency,  and  so  from  time 
and  place  to  adjourn  as  they  shall  see  fitting,  to  consider 
•  of  the  settlement  of  the  government  of  England  and 
Ireland.  But  when  the  messengers  came  down  to  the 
Commons,  the  doors  of  the  House  were  barred  against 
them ;  and  the  following  day,  having  renewed  their 
application  to  be  admitted,  they  met  with  a  similar 
reception. 

A  member  of  the  House  of  Commons  who  thought 
that  the  authority  of  the  Lords  might  still  be  useful  in 
carrying  on  the  government,  moved  "that  this  House 
shall  take  the  advice  of  the  House  of  Peers  in  the  exercise 
of  the  legislative  power;"  but,  after  a  long  debate,  it  was 
carried  in  the  negative  by  forty-four  against  twenty-nine  ; 
and  then  it  was  resolved,  without  a  division,  "  that  the 
House  of  Peers  in  parliament  is  useless  and  dangerous, 
and  ought  to  be  abolished,  and  that  an  act  be  brought 
in  for  that  purpose."  As  a  malicious  pleasantry  an 
amendment  was  moved  and  carried,  "  that  Lord  Com- 
missioner Whitelock  do  forthwith  prepare  and  bring  in 
the  same." 

Whitelock,  now  dragged  from  his  retirement. — in  deep 
distress  came  to  the  House  and  begged  to  be  excused, — 
urging  that  he  was  not  present  when  the  vote  passed,  and 
that  he  had  in  no  way  connived  in  it ;  but,  being  told  that 
it  was  his  duty  to  obey  the  orders  of  the  supreme  power 
of  the  state,  and  finding  that  all  recalcitrants  were 


1649.]  LORD     WHITELOCK.  343 

excluded  from  office,  and  even  from  sitting  in  the  House1 
he  yielded,  and  next  morning  laid  on  the  table  this  famous 
Ordinance, — which,  in  a  few  minutes,  was  read  a  first  and 
second  time,  committed,  read  a  third  time,  passed,  and 
pronounced  to  be  law. 

Much  more  was  done  on  this  memorable  day.  A  reso- 
lution was  moved,  that  "  it  hath  been  found  by  experience, 
and  this  House  doth  declare,  that  the  office  of  a  King  in 
this  nation  is  unnecessary,  burdensome,  and  dangerous 
to  the  liberty,  safety,  and  interest  of  the  people,  and 
ought  to  be  abolished."  Lord  Commissioner  Whitelock 
having  recently  acquitted  himself  so  well,  was  ordered  to 
withdraw  and  prepare  an  Ordinance  to  carry  this  resolu- 
tion into  effect.  He  no  longer  pretended  any  coyness  ; 
and  the  Ordinance,  as  he  speedily  produced  it,  was  imme- 
diately hurried  through — like  that  for  abolishing  the 
Lords.2 

An-  order  was  then  made  "  that  Sir  Thomas  Widdring- 
ton  and  Mr.  Whitelock,  the  Commissioners  of  the  Great 
Seal,  be  required  to  surrender  the  Great  Seal  now  in  use, 
bearing  the  name  and  insignia  of  the  late  King;  and  that 
an  ordinance  be  brought  in  to  authorize  the  use  of  the 
new  Great  Seal  made  by  order  of  the  House,  and  to 
appoint  them  the  keepers  thereof." 

Accordingly,  at  the  sitting  of  the  House  next  morning, 
the  old  Great  Seal  was  produced ;  and,  after  it  had  been 
broken  by  a  smith,  the  Speaker  being  in  the  chair,  the 
fragments,  and  the  purse  with  the  royal  arms  embroidered 
upon  it,  were  given  to  the  Commissioners  "  for  their  fees." 

The  ordinance  respecting  the  new  Great  Seal  was  then 
read  a  first  time; — when  Widdrington,  courteously  but 
resolutely  refused  to  accept  the  appointment  offered  to 
him.  His  excuse  was  accepted,  and  in  consideration  of 
his  services,  an  order  was  made  that  he  should  have  a 
quarter's  wages  more  than  was  due  him,  and  that  he 
should  thereafter  be  privileged  to  practice  within  the  bar. 

Whitelock  then  made  a  long,  canting,  hypocritical, 
speech,  in  which  he  took  care  to  disclaim  all  doubt  as  to 
the  supreme  authority  of  the  House.  "  Unavoidable 
necessity,"  said  he,  "  hath  put  you  on  these  courses, 
which  otherwise,  perhaps,  you  would  not  have  taken.  I 

1  An  order  had  been  made  that  no  member  who  had  voted  for  treating  with 
the  King  should  be  admitted.  *  Scobell's  Acts,  A.D.  1649,  c.  16,  17,  27. 


344     CHANCELLORS  OF  COMMONWEALTH.  [1649. 

am  sure,  Mr.  Speaker,  that  my  acting  and  sitting  here  is 
according  to  the  known  laws  of  England.  My  protection 
at  this  time  cometh  only  from  you,  and  my  obedience  is 
due  only  to  you.  There  is  no  other  visible  authority  in 
being  in  this  land  but  yourselves."  But,  although  he 
allowed  that  the  highest  place  of  ordinary  judicature,  to 
which  their  favor  and  good  opinion  had  been  pleased  to 
name  him,  was  an  object  of  honorable  ambition,  and  that 
he  should  be  desirous  to  do  right  and  justice, — to  relieve 
the  oppressed,  and  to  serve  God  and  his  country, — he 
dwelt  much  on  his  own  insufficiency  for  so  great  and 
weighty  a  charge.  In  pointing  out  its  arduous  duties,  he 
made  observations  which,  coming  from  a  man  regularly 
bred  to  the  bar,  an  accomplished  lawyer  and  an  experienced 
Judge,  show  that  "Equity"  down  to  this  time  had  not 
acquired  any  systematic  form,  and  was  not  yet  based  upon 
principle.  "  The  Judges  of  the  common  law  have  certain 
rules  to  guide  them ;  a  Keeper  of  the  Seal  has  nothing 
but  his  own  conscience  to  direct  him  and  that  is  often- 
times deceitful.  The  proceedings  in  Chancery  are  secun- 
dum  arbitrium  boni  viri  and  this  arbitrium  differs  as 
much  in  different  men  as  doth  their  complexion  or  the 
length  of  their  foot."  He  therefore  implored  them  to 
make  another  and  better  choice.  "  But  he  confessed  that, 
if  he  declined  absolutely,  it  would  be  a  kind  of  disavowing 
of  their  authority  as  unwarrantable  and  illegal, — which 
was  far  from  him, — and  he  submitted  himself  to  their 
pleasure  and  judgment.  This  was  taken,  as  it  was 
intended,  for  acquiescence."1 

The  next  person  named  was  John  Lisle,  who  now  went 
by  the  title  of  "  Major  Lisle."  He  was  the  son  of  a  res- 
pectable gentleman  in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  and  was  bred  to 
the  bar,  but  was  noted  for  his  idleness  and  profligacy,  and 
never  had  any  practice  or  knowledge  of  the  law.  Being 
returned  a  member  of  the  Long  Parliament,  he  was  dis- 
tinguished by  his  violence  against  the  King.  When  the 
war  broke  out  he  left  his  profession  and  took  to  arms  ; 
but  not  showing  military  genius  like  Ireton  and  Jones,  he 

1  Mem.  378.  In  his  Journal  he  says,  "  The  most  considerable  particulars 
which  influenced  me  in  this  determination  were,  that  I  was  already  very 
deeply  engaged  with  this  party  ;  that  the  business  to  be  undertaken  by  me 
was  the  execution  of  law  and  justice,  without  which  men  could  not  live  one 
by  another,  a  thing  of  absolute  necessity  to  be  done." 


1 649.]  LORD     WHITELOCK.  345 

never  rose  above  the  rank  of  Major.  He  is  generally  rep- 
resented as  having  been  one  of  the  King's  Judges,  but 
he  was  only  assessor,  or  legal  adviser  to  the  High  Court 
of  Justice.1  He  was  bold,  bustling,  confident,  and  unscrupu- 
lous. After  a  short  and  no  eager  excuse  by  him  on  the 
score  of  his  incompetence,  and  his  "  ready  owning  the 
authority  of  the  House  to  act  without  King  or  Lords," 
his  appointment  as  Commissioner  of  the  Great  Seal  was 
carried  by  acclamation. 

A  drowsy  Sergeant  of  the  name  of  Keble,  known  only 
for  some  bad  Law  Reports,  was  added  to  the  number, 
and  joyfully  accepted  his  appointment. 

The  ordinance  was  forthwith  passed,  constituting  these 
three  persons  Keepers  of  the  Great  Seal  quamdiu  se  bene 
gesserint?  The  former  salary  of  £1,000  a  year  was  voted 
to  them.  A  sharp  discussion  arose  whether  they  should 
be  called  "Lords"  Commissioners,  the  word  "  Lord"  hav- 
ing-become  distasteful  to  some ;  but  the  opinion  of  the 
great  majority  was,  that  to  drop  it  would  be  derogatory 
to  the  authority  of  the  parliament.3 

An  order  was  generously  made  at  the  same  time,  that 
the  arrears  due  to  the  Earl  of  Kent  and  Lord  Grey  de 
Werke,  for  their  salary  as  Lords  Commissioners  of  the 
Great  Seal,  should  be  immediately  paid  to  them. 

1  For  this  he  was  excepted  from  the  general  pardon  at  the  Restoration  ; 
and  though  he  made  his  escape,  he  was  assassinated  by  the  royalists  at  Lau- 
sanne.—  Whit. 

8  I  copy  the  ordinance  as  a  specimen  of  the  manner  of  legislating  which 
then  prevailed  :  "  Be  it  enacted  by  the  present  parliament  and  the  authority 
of  the  same  that  the  Great  Seal  of  England  shall  be  committed  to  the  keep- 
ing of  Bulstrode  Whitelock,  Sergeant-at-lavv,  Richard  Keble,  Sergeant-at- 
law,  and  John  Lisle,  Esq.,  who  are  hereby  appointed  Lords  Commissioners 
for  that  purpose,  quamdiu  se  bene  gesserint,  which  said  persons  are  hereby 
constituted  and  appointed  to  be  Lords  Commissioners  fur  the  custody  of  the 
Great  Seal  of  England  during  the  time  aforesaid,  and  they  or  any  two  of 
them  shall  have,  and  are  hereby  authorized  to  have  the  custody,  keeping, 
ordering,  and  disposing  thereof,  as  also  all  such  and  the  like  powers  and  au- 
thorities as  any  Lord  Chancellor,  Lord  Keeper,  or  Commissioners  of  the 
Great  Seal  of  England  for  the  time  being,  have  lawfully  had  and  used,  or 
ought  to  have  had  or  used." 

3  The  preservation  of  titles  is  one  of  the  many  circumstances  which  dis- 
tinguish this  revolution  and  that  of  France  in  1789  ;  but  the  English  Com- 
mons had  been  little  aggrieved  by  aristocracy,  and  had  little  objection  to  it — • 
whereas  the  injuries  and  insults  heaped  upon  the  roturiers  by  the  French 
noblesse  created  an  utter  abhorrence  and  abomination  of  that  order,  which 
still  continue,  and  account  for  the  devoted  attachment  of  the  French  nation 
to  the  law  of  equal  partibility,  considered  by  them  the  only  safeguard  against 
the  return  of  suqh  evils. 


346   CHANCELLORS  OF  COMMONWEALTH.    [1649. 

The  following  day  the  three  new  Lords  Commissioners 
were  sworn  in  before  the  House  of  Commons  by  the 
Speaker  in  these  words : — "  Whereas,  by  an  act  of  this 
present  parliament,  and  by  authority  thereof,  you  are 
made  Lords  Commissioners  of  the  Great  Seal  of  England, 
you  shall  swear  that  well  and  truly,  according  to  your 
skill  and  knowledge,  you  will  perform  your  duty  in  the 
execution  of  the  said  office,  according  to  law,  equity,  and 
justice."  There  was  no  longer  any  oath  of  allegiance  or 
supremacy,  and  the  Triennial  Act  was  considered  obsolete. 
So  the  Lords  Commissioners  being  ordered  to  provide  a 
purse  for  the  new  Great  Seal,  with  suitable  emblems  and 
ornaments,  they  were  dismissed,  and  proceeded  to  the 
Court  of  Chancery, — where  Lord  Commissioner  White- 
lock  made  a  short  oration,  and  intimated  that,  "  on  the 
morrow  they  should  begin  to  dispatch  the  business  of  the 
suitors,  as  it  was  the  determination  of  the  parliament,  in 
whom  God  had  placed  the  supreme  power,  that  right 
should  be  done  to  all,  and  that  justice,  like  the  copious 
river  of  Egypt,  should  overflow  and  bless  the  country."1 

The  day  following  was  the  day  to  which  the  term  had 
been  postponed,  and  there  was  great  confusion  in  West- 
minster Hall.  Six  only  of  the  Judges  would  agree  to 
serve  under  the  parliament,  and  they  considered  their  au- 
thority gone  by  the  King's  death.  Early  in  the  morning  an 
ordinance  was  run  through  the  House  of  Commons  to  ab- 
rogate the  oaths  of  allegiance  and  supremacy; — the  Lords 
Commissioners  of  the  Great  Seal  passed  new  patents  to  the 
Judges; — Lord  Commissioner  Whitelock  made  a  long 
speech,  explaining  and  justifying  all  that  had  been  done  ; — 
and  then  the  Judges  took  their  seats  in  their  respective 
Courts,  and  the  business  proceeded  as  if  nothing  remark- 
able had  happened. 

Cromwell  was  so  well  pleased,  that  he  and  Ireton,  his 
son-in-law,  went  home  with  the  Lord  Commissioner  to 

1  Whitelock,  conscious  of  his  equivocal  conduct  at  this  time,  says,  "  I  re- 
solved to  hazard,  or  lay  down  ell,  how  beneficial  soever  or  advantageous  to 
me,  rather  than 'to  do  any  thing  contrary  to  my  judgment  and  conscience.  I 
paid  a  visit  to  the  Lord  Chief  Justice  Rolles,  a  wise  and  learned  man  ;  he 
seemed  much  to  scruple  the  casting  off  of  the  Lords,  ind  w^s  troubled  at  it. 
Yet  he  greatly  encouraged  me  to  attend  the  House  of  Commons,  notwith- 
standing the  present  force  upon  them,  which  could  not  dispense  with  their 
attendance  and  performance  of  their  duty  who  had  no  force  upon  them.''— 
Whit.  367,  368. 


1649.]  LORD     WHITELOCK.  347 

supper,  "  where,"  says  Whitelock,  "  they  were  very  cheer- 
ful, and  seemed  extremely  well  pleased.  We  discoursed 
together  till  twelve  at  night,  and  they  told  me  wonderful 
observations  of  God's  providence  in  the  affairs  of  the  war, 
and  in  the  business  of  the  army's  coming  to  London  and 
seizing  the  members  of  the  House,  in  all  which  were  mi- 
raculous passages.  As  they  went  home  from  my  house 
their  coach  was  stopped,  and  they  examined  by  the 
guards,  to  whom  they  told  their  names ;  but  the  captain 
of  the  guards  would  not  believe  them,  and  threatened  to 
carry  these  two  great  officers  to  the  court  of  guard.  Ireton 
grew  a  little  angry,  but  Cromwell  was  cheerful  with  the 
soldiers,  gave  them  twenty  shillings,  and  commended 
them  and  their  captain  for  doing  their  duty."  l 


CHAPTER  LXX. 

LORDS    KEEPERS    FROM    THE   ADOPTION   OF   THE    REPUB- 
LICAN  GREAT   SEAL   TILL   CROMWELL  BECAME 
"  PROTECTOR." 

THERE  were  nominally  three  Lords  Commissioners 
of  the  Great  Seal,  but  Whitelock  was  chiefly  looked 
to  ;  and  it  is  allowed  that,  though  sometimes  much 
harrassed    by  his  colleagues,  he  presided  in  the  Court  of 
Chancery  with  impartiality  and  ability.       He  was  power- 
fully assisted   by  Lenthal,  who   continued   Master  of  the 
Rolls  as  well  as  Speaker,  and  though  occupied  at  West- 
minster  in    the  morning,  held  sittings  in  the  evening  at 
his  official  house  in  Chancery  Lane. 

That  the  example  which  the  parliament  had  set  might 
not  be  imitated,  an  ordinance  was  passed  to  make  it 
high  treason  to  counterfeit  the  new  Great  Seal.* 

The  Lords  Commissioners  were  ordered  "  to  take 
care  that  all  indictments,  outlawries,  and  other  acts 
against  any  person  for  adhering  to  the  parliament  remain- 
ing upon  record  be  searched  out,  taken  off  the  file,  can- 
celled, and  burnt,  as  things  scandalous  and  void."  : 

While  Cromwell  was  engaged  in  his  Scotch  and  Irish 
1  Whit.  Mem.  384.      *  Scobell's  Acts,  A.D.  1649,  c.  44.      s  Whit.  449. 


348     CHANCELLORS  OF  COMMONWEALTH.  [1649. 

campaigns,  the  march  of  government  was  smooth  and 
regular  in  London,  and  the  holders  of  the  Great  Seal 
were  engaged  in  few  transactions  which  require  our 
notice. 

On  the  5th  of  April,  1649,  they  were  ordered  to  assist 
at  the  solemnity  of  the  Lord  Mayor-elect  being  presented 
to  the  House  of  Commons  for  approbation,  when  Lord 
Commissioner  Whitelock,  taking  the  purse  containing  the 
Great  Seal  by  one  corner,  and  Lord  Commissioner  Lisle 
by  the  other,  they  carried  it  up,  making  obeisances  to  the 
Speaker,  and  laid  it  on  the  table,  both  being  in  their  black 
velvet  gowns;  but  they  were  not  allowed,  as  in  times  of 
royalty,  to  express  approbation  of  the  choice  of  the 
citizens,  this  task  being  now  performed  by  the  Speaker,  as 
organ  of  the  supreme  authority  in  the  state. 

Whitelock,  in  his  "  Memorials,"  presents  to  us  a  very 
amusing  account  of  a  grand  banquet  given  soon  after  at 
Guildhall  by  the  City  to  the  Parliament.  The  Lord 
Mayor,  when  at  Temple  Bar  he  met  the  members  of  the 
Commons'  House  coming  in  procession,  delivered  the 
sword  of  State,  carried  before  him,  into  the  hands  of  the 
Speaker,  who  graciously  restored  it  to  him,  after  the 
fashion  of  the  Kings  of  England.  The  highest  place  at 
the  table  was  assigned  to  the  Speaker,  and  the  next  to  the 
Lord  General.  The  Earl  of  Pembroke  then  called  upon 
Whitelock,  as  first  Commissioner,  to  be  seated ;  and  on 
his  wishing  the  old  courtier  to  sit  above  him,  said,  in  a 
loud  voice  to  be  heard  over  the  whole  hall,  "  What ;  do 
you  think  that  I  will  sit  down  before  you  ?  I  have  given 
place  heretofore  to  Bishop  Williams,  to  my  Lord  Coven- 
try, and  to  my  Lord  Littleton  :  you  have  the  same  place 
that  they  had,  and  as  much  honor  belongs  to  the  place 
under  a  Commonwealth  as  under  a  King,  and  you  are  a 
gentleman  as  well  born  and  bred  as  any  of  them :  there- 
fore I  will  not  sit  down  before  you."  Whitelock  yielded, 
and  had  the  Earl  of  Pembroke  next  him, — the  President 
of  the  Council  and  the  other  Commissioners  of  the  Great 
Seal  sitting  lower  down.1  There  seems  to  have  been  full 
as  much  importance  attached  to  such  trifles  in  these  re- 
publican times  as  at  the  Court  of  Charles  I. 

A  house  and  grounds  at  Chelsea,  belonging  to  the  Duke 
of  Buckingham,  now  in  exile,  were  assigned  to  the  Lords 
1   Whit.  Mem.     Life  of  Whit.  99.     3  Parl.  Hist.  1315. 


1649.]  LORD     WHITELOCK.  349 

Commissioners  as  a  private  residence.  Their  general  seal 
days  after  term  they  held  in  the  hall  of  the  Middle  Tem- 
ple, of  which  Lord  Commissioner  Whitelock  continued  a 
bencher. 

Six  of  the  common  law  Judges  having  refused  to  act 
under  the  parliament — others  of  learning  and  character 
were  appointed  in  their  stead,  and  Lord  Commissioner 
Whitelock,  in  swearing  them  in,  congratulated  them 
on  being  the  first  Commonwealth  Judges,  and  delivered 
to  them  a  lecture  of  enormous  length,  on  the  duties  of 
their  office,  which  he  deduced  from  the  Druids,  who  were 
the  Judges  of  the  Britons,  and  the  ancient  Germans, 
"  '  Graff'  among  whom  signified  both  a  Judge  and  a  noble, 
showing  the  nobility  of  Judges." 

Among  Whitelock's  faults  and  follies,  it  should  be  re- 
corded to  his  honor,  that  he  was  most  zealous  and  useful 
in  preserving  the  medals,  books,  and  monuments  of  learn- 
ing which,  having  belonged  to  the  King  personally,  had 
become  the  property  of  the  state,  and  which  certain 
Vandals  were  now  eager  to  sell  or  to  destroy. 

I  must  likewise  gratefully  mention  a  noble  struggle 
which  he  made  in  the  autumn  of  this  year  in  defense  of 
the  profession  of  the  law.  One  of  Cromwell's  officers,  an 
ignorant,  fanatical  fellow,  had  made  a  motion  "  that  all 
lawyers  should  be  excluded  from  parliament,  or  at  any 
rate,  while  they  sit  in  parliament  they  should  discontinue 
their  practice," — introducing  his  motion  with  a  violent  in- 
vective against  the  conduct  of  the  lawyers  both  in  and 
out  of  the  House,  and  being  particularly  severe  upon 
their  loquacity  in  small  causes,  and  their  silence  when  the 
lives  of  their  clients  were  at  stake.  Whitelock  showed 
that  the  multiplicity  of  suits  in  England  did  not  arise 
from  the  evil  arts  of  lawyers,  but  from  the  greatness  of 
our  trade, — the  amount  of  our  wealth, — the  number  of  our 
contracts, — the  power  given  to  every  man  to  dispose  of 
his  property  as  he  pleases  by  will, — and  the  equal  free- 
dom among  us,  by  which  all  are  entitled  to  vindicate  their 
rights  by  an  appeal  to  a  Court  of  Justice.  He  showed 
that  the  silence  of  counselors  on  capital  cases  was  the 
fault  of  the  law,  which  kept  them  silent ;  and  he  "  ingenu- 
ously confessed  that  he  could  not  answer  that  objection, 
that  a  man,  for  a  trespass  to  the  value  of  sixpence,  may 
have  a  counselor  to  plead  for  him  ;  but  that,  where  life 


350    CHANCELLORS  OF  COMMONWEALTH.    [1649. 

and  posterity  were  concerned,  he  was  debarred  of  that 
privilege.  What  was  said  in  vindication  or  excuse  of  that 
custom, — that  the  Judges  were  counsel  for  the  prisoner, — 
had  no  weight  in  it ;  for  were  they  not  to  take  the  same 
care  of  all  causes  that  should  be  tried  before  them  ?  A 
reform  of  that  defect  he  allowed  would  be  just." '  He 
then  showed  the  valuable  services  of  lawyers  in  parlia- 
ment, instancing  Sir  Edward  Coke,  with  whom  he  himself 
had  the  honor  to  co-operate  in  the  beginning  of  the  late 
reign,  and  who  carried  "  the  Petition  of  Right,"  and  the 
exertions  of  St.  John,  Wilde,  and  others  in  the  recent 
struggles.  He  likewise  pointed  out  the  oppressive  laws 
passed  at  the  Parliamentum  Indoctum,  from  which  lawyers 
were  excluded.  "As  to  the  sarcasms  on  the  lawyers  for 
not  fighting,  he  deemed  that  the  gown  did  neither  abate 
a  man's  courage  or  his  wisdom,  nor  render  him  less 
capable  of  using  a  sword  when  the  laws  were  silent.  Wit- 
ness the  great  services  performed  by  Lieutenant  General 
Jones,  and  Commissary  Ireton,  and  many  other  lawyers, 
who,  putting  off  their  gowns  when  the  parliament  required 
it,  had  served  stoutly  and  successfully  as  soldiers,  and 
had  undergone  almost  as  many  and  as  great  hardships 
and  dangers  as  the  honorable  gentleman  who  so  much 
undervalued  them.2  With  respect  to  the  proposal  for 
compelling  lawyers  to  suspend  their  practice  while  they 
sat.  in  parliament,  he  only  insisted  that,  in  the  act  for  that 
purpose,  it  be  provided  that  merchants  should  forbear  their 
trading,  physicians  from  visiting  their  patients,  and  country 
gentlemen  from  selling  their  corn  or  wool  while  they  were 
members  of  that  House"  3  He  was  loudly  applauded,  and 
the  motion  was  withdrawn.4 

1  But  it  was  nearly  200  years  before  that  reform  came,  and,  I  am  ashamed 
to  say,  it  was  to  the  last  opposed  by  almost  all  the  Judges. 

2  Whitelock  himself  served  with  great  distinction. 

3  Life  of  Whitelock,  109-120. 

4  Although  on  the  rare  occasions  when  it  was  my  duty  to  speak  while  a 
member  of  the  House  of  Commons,  I  had  the  good  fortune  to  experience  a 
favorable  hearing,  I  must  observe  that  there  has  subsisted  in  this  assembly 
down  to  our  own  times,  an  envious  antipathy  to  lawyers,  with  a  determined 
resolution  to  believe  that  no  one  can  be  eminent  there  who  has  succeeded  at 
the  bar.     The  prejudice  on  the  subject  is  well  illustrated  by  a  case  within  my 
own  knowledge.     A  barrister  of  the  Oxford  circuit  taking  a  large  estate 
under  the  will  of  a  distant  relation,  left  the  bar,  changed  his  name  under   a 
royal  license,  was  returned  for  a  Welsh  county,  and  made  his  maiden  speech 
in  top-boots  and  leather  breeches,  holding  a  hunting-whip  in  his  hand.     He 
was  most  rapturously  applauded,  till  he  unluckily  alluded  to  some  cause  in 


1652.]  LORD     WHITELOCK.  351 

Whitelock  was  a  most  zealous  man  and  enlightened 
law  reformer.  The  long  vacation  of  1649  he  devoted, 
with  the  assistance  of  Lenthal,  the  Master  of  the  Rolls, 
Keble,  his  brother  Commissioner,  and  two  or  three  public- 
spirited  barristers,  to  a  review  of  the  practice  of  the  Court 
of  Chancery;  and  in  the  following  term  came  out  a  most 
valuable  set  of"  Orders"  for  correcting  the  abuses  which 
had  multiplied  there  during  the  late  troubles,  and  for 
simplifying  and  expediting  the  conduct  of  suits  in  Equity.1 
These  were  the  basis  of  the  subsequent  orders  of  Lord 
Clarendon,  which  are  still  of  authority. 

In  the  following  year,  on  Whitelock's  suggestion,  a 
committee  was  appointed,  over  which  he  presided,  to  con- 
sider generally  the  improvements  which  might  be  intro- 
duced in  the  body  of  the  law  and  the  administration  of 
justice. 

In  1652,  Whitelock  prevailed  on  the  parliament  to  ap- 
point Commissioners,  not  members  of  the  House,  "  to 
take  into  consideration  what  inconveniences  there  are  in 
the  law,  and  how  the  mischiefs  that  grow  from  the  delays, 
the  chargeableness,  and  the  irregularities  in  the  proceed- 
ings in  the  law  may  be  prevented,  and  the  speediest  way 
to  reform  the  same."  At  the  head  of  this  commission 
was  placed  that  most  learned  and  virtuous  lawyer,  Sir 
MATTHEW  HALE. 

They  proceeded  with  great  vigor,  meeting  several  times 
every  week  in  the  Chamber  in  which  the  Peers  had  for- 
merly sat,  ordering  returns  from  the  Judges  and  the  officers 
in  the  different  Courts,  with  their  fees  and  duties,  examin- 
ing the  most  experienced  practitioners  as  to  defects  and 
remedies  in  legal  process,  and  entering  scientifically  into 
the  whole  field  of  English  jurisprudence.  They  made 
several  valuable  reports,  but  their  labors  were  suddenly 
interrupted  by  the  violent  dissolution  of  the  Long  Parlia- 
ment. 

There  had  for  some  time  been  a  coolness  between 
Whitelock  and  Cromwell,  in  consequence  of  a  private  con- 
versation respecting  the  future  plan  of  government  to  be 
adopted.  The  elated  General,  after  the  victories  of  Dun- 

which  he  had  been  engaged  while  at  the  bar — and  when  it  was  discovered 
that  he  was  a  lawyer  in  disguise,  he  was  coughed  down  in  three  minutes.     In 
the  other  House  of  parliament  there  is  no  such  prejudice  against  the  law. 
1  See  Appendix  to  Beames's  Collection  of  Chancery  Orders. 


352    CHANCELLORS  OF  COMMONWEALTH.    [1653. 

bar  and  Worcester,  and  the  subjugation  of  Ireland,  sounded 
the  Lord  Commissioner  as  to  the  expediency  of  actually 
putting  the  Crown  upon  his  own  head  ;  when  he  was  told 
frankly  that  the  nation  would  greatly  prefer  the  Stuarts  to 
the  Cromwells,  and  he  was  advised  to  send  for  Prince 
Charles  and  to  make  him  King,  on  such  terms  as  he  might 
prescribe,  whereby  he  might  promote  the  good  of  the  na- 
tion, and  for  ever  secure  the  greatness  of  his  own  family.1 
Although  Cromwell's  carriage  to  Whitelock  was  thence- 
forth much  altered,  he  summoned  him  to  attend  the 
meeting  of  officers  of  the  army  and  leaders  of  the  inde- 
pendent party,  held  at  his  lodgings  in  Whitehall,  the 
night  before  he  ordered  the  "bauble  "to  be  removed  from 
the  table  of  the  House  of  Commons.  It  was  here  pro- 
posed that  the  Parliament,  which  had  sat  above  twelve 
years,  should  be  peremptorily  required  to  pass  an  act  to 
put  an  end  to  its  existence, — ostensibly,  that  the  nation 
might  express  its  will  by  new  representatives, — but,  in 
reality,  that  the  military  men  might  get  possession  of  the 
civil  offices  which  they  considered  the  just  reward  of  the 
perils  they  had  undergone.  Whitelock,  assisted  by  Sir 
Thomas  Widdrington,  his  late  colleague,  strenuously  com- 
bated this  project, — pointing  out  the  glory  and  prosperity 
enjoyed  under  the  existing  system,  and  the  danger  of  the 
attempt  to  set  up  a  new  government,  which  must  lead  to 
tyranny  or  anarchy, — and  strongly  asserting  that  to  plot 
against  that  authority  which  they  had  sworn  to  respect, 
was  neither  consonant  to  prudence  nor  justifiable  in  con- 
science. The  officers  of  the  army,  however,  inveighed 
bitterly  against  the  parliament,  and  declared  violently 
for  a  change.  Cromwell  reproved  them  for  these  ex- 
pressions of  opinion, — from  which  those  who  knew  him 
best  conjectured  that  he  had  prompted  their  project,  and 
that  he  was  resolved  at  all  risks  to  support  it.  The  con- 
ference lasted  till  late  at  night,  when  my  Lord  Commis- 
sioner Whitelock  went  home  weary  and  much  troubled 
in  his  mind  to  see  the  ingratitude  and  indiscretion  of 
these  men.  The  meeting  was  resumed  before  daylight, 
next  morning,  and  Cromwell  himself  proposed  that  the 

1  Mem.  548.  Cromwell  had  previously  tried  to  soften  him  with  a  present 
of  "  a  horse  and  two  Scotch  prisoners."  "  The  horse,"  says  Whitelock,  "  I 
kept  for  carrying  me  ;  the  two  Scots,  unlucky  gentlemen  of  that  country,  I 
handsomely  sent  home  again  without  any  ransom." — Mem,  484. 


1653.]  LORD     WHITELOCK.  353 

present  parliament  should  forthwith  be  dissolved  by  its 
own  act,  and  that  a  joint  council,  <3f  officers  of  the  army 
and  those  who  had  served  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
should  be  appointed  to  rule  the  affairs  of  the  republic  till 
a  new  parliament  could  be  assembled.  Whitelock  again 
earnestly  protested  against  the  formation  of  such  a  body, 
although  it  was  proposed  that  he  should  belong  to  it,  and 
he  declared  his  resolution  to  stand  by  the  parliament 
which  had  conferred  such  benefits  on  the  country.  They 
separated  without  coming  to  any  agreement. 

Historians  profess  themselves  wholly  at  a  loss  to  ac- 
count for  the  open,  imperious  and  frantic  manner  in  which 
Cromwell,  a  few  hours  after,  expelled  the  members  from 
the  House, — which  they  consider  inconsistent  with  his 
general  character, — not  attending  to  the  fact  that  to  gain 
his  object  he  had  previously  exhausted  all  the  arts  of  in- 
trigue, deceit  and  hypocrisy. 

The  proposed  Council  was  formed  merely  as  the  organ 
of  Cromwell's  pleasure,  and  he  published  a  royal  procla- 
mation called  "  a  Declaration  by  the  Council,"  explaining 
the  reasons  of  dissolving  the  late  parliament,  and  requiring 
all  persons  to  proceed  as  formerly  in  the  execution  of 
their  offices.  "  The  Lord  Commissioner  Whitelock  and 
his  colleagues  were  in  a  great  quandary  what  to  do  till 
this  declaration  came  out,  and  did  not  then  proceed  in  the 
business  of  Great  Seal ;  but  in  a  little  time,  considering 
that  they  had  their  authority  from  the  parliament,  they 
went  on  as  usual."  The  truth  is,  that  the  Lord  Com- 
missioner, having  given  good  advice,  was  generally  of  su 
most  pliant  and  conforming  temper  when  his  advice  had 
been  overruled,  and  though  free  from  the  fumes  of  fanati- 
cism, was  "  a  waiter  upon  Providence."  He  accepted  a, 
place  in  the  "  Council  of  State,"  and  though  there  was  no 
cordiality  between  him  and  the  President,  he  abstained 
from  any  active  opposition  to  the  usurped  government. 
It  would  be  difficult  to  say  where,  in  law  or  theory,  the 
sovereign  power  was  supposed  to  rest  between  the  disso- 
lution of  the  Long  Parliament  and  the  "  PROTECTORATE," 
— but,  de  facto,  under  the  title  of  "  Lord  General,"  Crom- 
well exercised  unlimited  sway. 

He  now  resorted  to  the  most  absurd  and  fantastical  at- 
tempt to  constitute  a  legislative  assembly  recorded  in  the 

1  Life  of  Whitelock,  162.     Whit.  Mem.  555. 
III. — 23 


354   CHANCELLORS  OF  COMMONWEALTH.    [1653. 

annals  of  any  nation,  by  calling  "Barebones*  Parliament." 
Having  succeeded  in*his  late  enterprise  by  means  of  the 
violent  fanatics,  they  naturally  expected  to  enjoy  power, 
and  his  conduct  can  only  be  explained  by  supposing  that 
he  was  resolved  to  give  them  a  taste  of  it,  and  to  demon- 
strate to  them  and  the  world  that  the  government  could 
not  be  permanently  conducted  on  their  absurd  principles. 

By  his  own  fiat  he  named  one  hundred  and  fifty-six  rep- 
resentatives for  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,1  whose  quali- 
fication was  supposed  to  be  that  they  were  "  faithful, 
fearing  God,  and  hating  covetousness."  One  hundred 
and  twenty  of  these  actually  attended  at  the  appointed 
time,  and  after  being  inflamed  by  "a  grave,  Christian,  and 
seasonable  speech  "  from  Cromwell, — in  what  capacity  no 
one  could  tell,  except  that  it  was  believed  by  his  admirers 
that,  on  this  occasion,  "  the  spirit  of  God  spoke  in  him 
and  by  him," — and  after  they  had  spent  several  days  in 
"  seeking  the  Lord,"  praying  in  turn  without  the  assistance 
of  any  chaplain,  and  affirming  that  they  had  never  before 
enjoyed  so  much  of  the  presence  and  spirit  of  Christ, — 
they  at  last  worked  themselves  up  to  the  belief  that  they 
were  divinely  inspired,  and  that  the  reign  of  the  saints  on 
earth  had  begun. 

In  this  notable  assembly  were  some  persons  of  the  rank 
of  gentlemen ;  but  the  far  greater  part  were  low  me- 
chanics, fifth  monarchy  men,  Anabaptists,  Antinomians, 
Independents — the  very  dregs  of  the  fanatics. 

Having  given  but  an  indifferent  specimen  of  their  regard 
to  liberty,  by  prosecuting  Lilburne  for  questioning  their 
authority,  and  when  he  had  been  acquitted  by  a  jury,  con- 
fining him  in  the  Tower,  with  an  injunction  that  no  obe- 
dience should  be  paid  to  any  writ  of  habeas  corpus  in  his 
behalf, — they  set  about  reforming  the  law.  Petitions 
having  been  presented  complaining  of  undue  delays,  vex- 
ations, and  expenses  in  the  conduct  of  Equity  suits,  they 
disdained  to  apply  palliatives  and  correctives  to  such  an 
evil,  and  resolved  "that  the  High  Court  of  Chancery  ot 
England  shall  be  forthwith  taken  away,  and  that  a  bill  be 
brought  in  for  that  purpose,  and  that  it  be  referred  to  a 
committee  to  consider  how  the  causes  now  depending  in 
Chancery  may  be  determined." 

However,  more  difficulty  was  experienced  in  this  root- 
1  139  for  England,  6  for  Wales,  6  for  Ireland,  5  for  Scotland. 


i653-]  LORD     WHITELOCK.  355 

and-branch  reform  than  had  been  anticipated.  Not  only 
was  there  a  great  clamor  among  the  lawyers,  "  the  sons  of 
Zeruiah,"  as  they  were  called,  but  all  men  of  sense  who 
attended  to  the  subject  were  aware  that  there  were  many 
most  important  rights  for  which  the  Courts  of  law  afforded 
no  remedy,  and  that  the  proposed  measure  would  be  the 
triumph  of  fraud  and  injustice.  These  considerations 
were  so  palpable,  that,  by  degrees,  some  members  of  par- 
liament were  made  to  understand  them,  and  to  express 
doubts  whether,  in  this  instance,  they  were  not  under  a 
delusion  of  Satan.  To  give  further  time  for  illumination, 
a  resolution  was  passed  to  suspend  all  proceedings  in 
Chancery  for  one  month,  the  Lords  Commissioners  for  the 
Great  Seal,  notwithstanding,  being  empowered  to  issue 
forth,  under  the  Great  Seal,  "  original  writs,  writs  of  cov- 
enant, and  writs  of  entry,"  for  the  purpose  of  originating 
actions  at  law ;  but  a  bill  for  this  purpose  being  intro- 
duced, it  was  finally  rejected  by  the  casting  vote  of  the 
Speaker,  the  numbers  on  the  division  being  yeas  39, 
noes  39.' 

The  abolitionists,  however,  nothing  daunted  by  this 
defeat,  two  days  after  carried  a  vote  "  that  the  bill  for 
taking  away  the  High  Court  of  Chancery  and  constituting 
Commissioners  to  hear  and  determine  the  causes  now 
depending*  therein,  formerly  ordered  by  the  House,  should 
be  forthwith  proceeded  with,"  and  it  thereupon  was  read 
a  first  and  second  time,  and  ordered  to  be  committed. 
This  bill  was  thrown  out  on  the  report ;  but  there  was  a 
reference  to  a  select  committee  to  consider  what  was  fit 
to  be  done.  The  committee  being  nominated  by  an 
abolitionist,  and  composed  almost  entirely  of  his  party, 
reported  "  that  another  bill  should  be  brought  in  for 
taking  away  the  Court  of  Chancery,  and  appointing  Com- 
missioners to  hear  and  determine  as  well  causes  now  de- 
pending, as  also  future  matters  of  Equity,  and  putting  in 
order  matters  of  law  which  were  within  the  jurisdiction  of 
that  Court."  Such  a  bill  was  accordingly  introduced, 
read  a  first  and  second  time,  and  referred  to  a  select  com- 
mittee, who  recommended  that  the  famous  General  Har- 
rison should  be  added  to  their  number. 

But  there  the  bill  slept  till  the  members  of  Barebones' 
Parliament,  themselves  convinced  of  their  own  insuf- 
1  For  the  Proceedings  of  Barebones'  Parliament,  see  3  Parl.  Hist.  1381-1414. 


356     CHANCELLORS  OF  COMMONWEALTH.  [1654. 

ficiency,  voluntarily  resigned  their  authority  into  the 
hands  of  him  from  whom  they  had  received  it,  without 
having  passed  one  single  act  since  they  met.1 

In  the  meanwhile  Whitelock  had  set  out  on  an  embassy 
to  Christina,  Queen  of  Sweden.  Cromwell  was  desirous 
of  having  him  out  of  the  way  during  the  execution  of 
the  scheme  now  nearly  matured  ;  and  the  Lord  Commis- 
sioner himself,  despairing  of  being  able  to  ward  off  the 
dangers  which  threatened  his  Court,  was  not  displeased 
to  submit  to  this  honorable  exile,  although  he  had  some 
months  before  peremptorily  refused  the  offer  that  he 
should  go  to  Ireland  at  the  head  of  a  Commission  to  settle 
the  affairs  of  that  island. 


CHAPTER  LXXI. 

LORDS   KEEPERS  DURING  THE  PROTECTORATE  OF  OLIVER 
CROMWELL.   - 

WHITELOCK  remained  absent  from  England  till 
the  6th  of  July,  in  the  following  year,  and  on 
his  return  found  Cromwell  regularly  installed  in 
the  office  of  Lord  Protector,  and  about  to  meet  a  parlia- 
ment called  on  the  soundest  principles  of  representative 
government.  Scarcely  had  the  Lord  Commissioner  landed 
at  Gottenburgh  on  his  way  to  Upsal,  when  Cromwell, 
with  ill-affected  reluctance,  agreed  to  take  upon  him  the 
office  of  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  State,  with  the  power, 
though  without  the  name,  of  King, — pretending  that  it 
was  forced  upon  him  by  the  army,  and  that  the  public 
tranquillity  required  that  he  should  accept  it.  Lords 

1  A  tract  on  the  abuses  of  the  Court  of  Chancery,  published  soon  after,  de- 
scribes with  much  drollery  the  consternation  of  the  legal  profession  while  the 
bill  was  depending  for  abolishing  the  Court  of  Chancery :  "  how  sad  and 
sorrowful  were  the  lawyers  and  clerks  for  the  loss  of  their  great  Diana,  with 
their  great  joy  and  making  of  bonfires  and  drinking  of  sack,  when  they  were 
delivered  from  their  fears  by  the  dissolution  of  the  parliament."  The  imagin- 
ative and  graphic,  but  quaint  and  fantastical  Carlyle,  in  the  middle  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  defends  the  respectability  of  Barebones'  Parliament,  and 
the  wisdom  of  all  its  proceedings — particularly  praising  the  Bill  for  the  aboli- 
tion of  the  Court  of  Chancery. — Letters  and  Speeches  of  Cromwell, 
vol.  ii.  351-434- 


1654.]  WHITELOCK,    LISLE,     WIDDRINGTON.     357 

Commissioners  Lisle  and  Keble  attended  the  procession 
to  Westminster  Hall  when  this  pageant  was  enacted — 
jointly  carrying  the  Great  Seal  before  him  as  he  passed 
through  two  lines  of  military,  accompanied  by  the  Judges 
and  the  Lord  Mayor  of  London  ;  and  they  administered 
to  him  an  oath  that  he  would  be  faithful-  to  the  common- 
wealth, and  rule  according  to  the  Instrument  of  Govern- 
ment and  other  laws  of  this  land.1  In  recompense  they 
were  allowed,  without  molestation,  to  discharge  their  ju- 
dicial duties  and  to  receive  their  salaries.  On  the  4th  of 
April,  1654,  on  the  death  of  Lord  Commissioner  Keble, 
Sir  Thomas  Widdrington,  whose  scruples  were  now  quieted, 
was  appointed  in  his  place ;  and  on  account  of  the  illness 
of  Lisle,  on  the  3<Dth  of  May,  by  warrant  under  the  hand 
of  the  Lord  Protector,  he  was  appointed  to  act  as  sole 
Commissioner.1 

Whitelock,  now  styled  Sir  Bulstrode,  having  been 
created  by  Christina  Knight  of  the  Order  of  Amarantha, 
— that  he  might  resume  his  place  as  first  Lord  Commis- 
sioner, made  no  difficulty  in  recognizing  the  Protector  ; 
and  at  a  grand  audience  vouchsafed  to  him  at  Whitehall, 
gave  "  his  Highness  an  elaborate  account  of  his  reception 
at  the  Swedish  Court  by  the  Queen  and  the  Chancellor 
Oxenstern,  and  how  he  had  escaped  shipwreck  by  embark- 
ing in  one.of  "his  Highness's  frigates"  in  the  Baltic.* 

On  the  Hthof  July,  Whitelock,  Lisle,  and  Widdrington 
were  sworn  in  before  the  Council ;  and  the  Lord  Protector, 
after  the  royal  fashion,  delivered  the  Great  Seal  to  them 
as  Lords  Commissioners.4 

Cromwell's  second  parliament  met  on  the  3rd  of  Sep- 
tember,— a  day  he  considered  so  auspicious  to  him.  The 
session  was  opened  with  royal  splendor,  the  Protector 
proceeding  to  Westminster  in  a  grand  state  carriage,  at- 
tended by  his  life  guards.  He  was  followed  by  the  Com- 
missioners of  the  Great  Seal,  Whitelock  carrying  the 
purse,  and  by  the  other  officers  of  state  and  of  the  house- 
hold, all  in  coaches,  bearing  swords  and  other  emblems  of 

1  Whit.  571,  577. 

2  Rot.  Glaus.  1564,  p.  22.     When  Cromwell  was  installed  Protector,  he  re- 
appointed   the  Commissioners   of  the   Great   Seal,    with  the   advice  of  his 
Council. 

3  See  Whitelock's  "Journal  of  his  Swedish  Embassy"— an  amusing  book, 
containing,  besides  his  adventures  abroad,  some  interesting  notices  of  Bare- 
bones'  Parliament.  4  Rot.  Cl.  No.  62,  in  Petty  Bag  Office. 


35«     CHANCELLORS  OF  COMMONWEALTH.  [1655. 

sovereignty.1  In  his  speech  he  boasted  much  of  the  ap- 
pointment of  Commissioners  to  consider  how  the  laws 
could  be  made  plain,  short,  and  easy, — of  putting  into  the 
seat  of  justice  men  of  the  most  known  integrity  and 
ability, — and  that  the  Chancery  had  been  reformed  to  the 
just  satisfaction  of  all  good  men.* 

The  Lord  Commissioner  Whitelock  was  returned  by 
three  constituencies, — the  county  of  Buckingham,  the  city 
of  Oxford,  and  the  borough  of  Bedford.  He  chose  to  sit 
for  Buckinghamshire,  but  does  not  appear  to  have  taken 
any  prominent  part  in  the  debates.  Other  members  more 
adventurous  questioned  the  title  of  the  Lord  Protector, 
and  considered  whether  the  government  should  be  in  the 
hands  of  one  individual, — so  that,  in  the  month  of  Jan- 
uary, he  thought  fit,  after  the  manner  of  the  Stuarts, 
abruptly  to  dissolve  the  parliament  before  it  had  passed  a 
single  act.  A  bill  had  been  brought  in  to  regulate — not 
to  abolish — the  Court  of  Chancery ;  but  it  had  not  pro- 
ceeded further  than  the  committee,8  and  we  are  not  in- 
formed of  its  contents. 

Cromwell  now  for  a  while  assumed  legislative  power  to 
himself  with  the  advice  of  his  Council,  and,  under  the 
name  of  "  Ordinances,"  issued  proclamations  which  he 
enforced  as  law.  Among  these  was  "  an  ordinance  for  the 
better  limiting  the  jurisdiction  of  the  High  Court  of  Chan- 
cery," which  had  been  framed  without  the  slightest  com- 
munication with  the  Lords  Commissioners,  and  displayed 
such  ignorance  that  it  might  have  been  the  production  of 
General  Harrison.  The  Lords  Commissioners  were  sum- 
moned before  the  Council,  where  the  ordinance  was  de- 
livered to  them,  and  "  they  were  gravely  admonished  to 
be  careful  not  to  oppose  his  Highness's  intentions  for  the 
common  good."  Lisle,  who  was  an  exceedingly  illiterate 
person  as  well  as  very  subservient,  promised  obedience  ;  but 
Whitelock  and  Widdrington  saw  that  many  parts  of  the 
"  ordinance "  were  quite  impracticable,  and  that  they 
should  expose  themselves  to  derision  if  they  attempted 
to  put  it  in  execution.  Lenthal,  the  Master  of  the  Rolls, 
likewise  joined  them  in  a  remonstrance  against  it.  They 
represented  that  it  would  deprive  many  persons  of  their 
freehold  without  offense  or  legal  trial,  contrary  to  the 
Great  Charter  and  various  acts  of  parliament,  and  they 

1   Carlyle's  Cromwell,  iii.  22.         *  Mem.  600.         3  Com.  Jour.  vii.  414. 


1655.]    WHITELOCK,   LISLE,    VVIDDRINGTON.     359 

presented  a  memorial  on  the  proposed  rules,  showing  that 
in  many  instances  they  could  not  be  obeyed,  and  in 
others  the  most  mischievous  consequences  would  follow 
from  obeying  them.  Two  of  the  rules,  with  the  objections 
to  them,  may  serve  by-way  of  specimen  of  this  Chancery 
Reform  : — Rule.  "  Every  cause  shall  be  heard  and  deter- 
mined the  same  day  it  is  set  down,  and  for  this  purpose 
the  Lords  Commissioners  shall  sit  if  necessary  in  the 
afternoon  as  well  as  the  forenoon,  except  upon  Satur- 
days." Objection : — "  This  is  impossible,  for  Equity 
causes  depend  upon  so  many  circumstances  in  cases  of 
fraud,  that  ofttimes  three  or  four  days  are  not  sufficient 
for  the  orderly  hearing  of  one  single  cause,  and  the  Com- 
missioners can  not  sit  at  the  times  appropriated  to  the 
sittings  at  the  Rolls,  as  counsel  and  solicitors  can  not  do 
their  duty  in  two  places  at  the  same  time." 

Rule. — "  No  injunction  shall  be  granted  to  stay  the 
mortgagee  from  his  suit  at  law,  and  no  injunction  shall  be 
granted  but  upon  motion  in  open  court  after  hearing  the 
merits."  Objection: — "The  mortgagor  would  often  be 
unjustly  turned  out  of  possession,  and  there  is  more 
reason  for  allowing  the  interference  of  a  Court  of  Equity 
on  mortgages  than  on  bonds  and  other  securities,  where 
it  is  and  must  be  allowed.  By  the  negation  to  the  grant- 
ing of  injunctions  in  cases  of  waste,  timber  might  be  felled, 
houses  pulled  down,  meadows  and  ancient  pasture  plowed 
up,  to  the  irreparable  loss  of  the  plaintiffs  and  the  Com- 
monwealth." " 

The  Lords  Commissioners  went  on  for  a  whole  term 
after  the  making  of  the  "  ordinance,"  refusing  to  observe 
it.  Whitelock  said,  "  that  he  had  taken  an  oath  to  exe- 
cute the  place  of  Commissioner  of  the  Great  Seal  legally 
and  justly,  and  for  him  to  execute  that  '  ordinance  '  as  a 
law,  when  he  knew  that  those  who  made  it  had  no  legal 
power  to  make  law,  could  not  be  justified  in  conscience, 
and  would  be  a  betraying  of  the  rights  of  the  people  of 
England." 

The  day  after  term  they  were  summoned   before   the 

1  It  was  not  then  foreseen  that  there  would  be  five  courts  of  Equity  sitting 
together  in  Westminster  Hall. 

*  I  find  one  regulation,  however,  more  reasonable — "  that  the  Masters  in 
Chancery  shall  sit  in  public  ;"  to  which  the  only  objection  was,  "  that  it  was 
so  worded  as  to  take  away  the  power  of  excepting  to  their  Report." 


360     CHANCELLORS  OF  COMMONWEALTH.    [1655. 

Lord  Protector  and  the  Council,  and  ordered  to  bring  the 
Great  Seal  with  them, — which  they  knew  was  the  signal 
of  their  dismissal. 

His  Highness  told  them  "  that  every  one  was  to  satisfy 
his  own  conscience  in  a  matter  to  be  performed  by  him- 
self, and  that  he  had  not  a  worse  opinion  of  any  man  for 
refusing  to  do  that  which  he  was  dubious  of;  but  that  the 
affairs  of  the  Commonwealth  did  require  obedience  to 
authority,  and  that  the  Great  Seal  must  be  put  into  the 
hands  of  others  who  might  be  satisfied  that  it  was  their 
duty  to  perform  that  command. 

Whitelock  and  Widdrington  both  tried  to  justify  them- 
selves ;  but  the  Protector  required  them  to  lay  down  the 
Seal,  and  to  withdraw.  Having,  after  the  example  of  the 
Kings,  kept  the  Seal  some  days  in  his  own  possession  and 
personally  directed  the  sealing  of  various  instruments, 
without  any  Lord  Chancellor,  or  Lord  Keeper,  or  Lords 
Commissioners,  he  delivered  it  to  a  new  Lord  Commis- 
sioner,— Colonel  FlENNES,  a  soldier, — and  to  the  noted 
Major  LISLE,  "  a  man  for  all  essays,  who  had  no  other 
knowledge  of  the  business  he  undertook  beyond  the  little 
he  had  learned  by  accompanying  the  late  Commissioners." 
"  In  presence  of  his  Highness  and  his  Council,  they  took 
the  oaths  appointed  by  his  Highness  and  his  Council  to 
be  taken."1 

"  Thus,"  says  Whitelock,  my  fortunes  and  interest 
decreased  ;  and  now  my  pretended  dear  friends  and  fre- 
quent visitors  withdrew  themselves  from  me,  and  began 
neither  to  own  nor  to  know  me :  such  is  the  course  of 
dirty  worldlings."2 

He  returned  to  the  bar,  and  at  once  got  into  full  prac- 
tice ;  but  Oliver  soon  made  him  and  Widdrington  Com- 
missioners of  the  Treasury,  with  a  salary  of  ;£i,ooo  a  year.8 

Nathaniel  Fiennes,  the  new  Lord  Keeper, — placed  the 
first  in  the  commission,  I  presume,  on  account  of  his  supe- 
rior military  rank, — was  the  second  son  of  Viscount  Say 
and  Sele.  Having  left  the  University,  he  passed  a  short 
time  in  the  Inns  of  Court,  but  merely  to  finish  his  general 

1  Cl.  R.  1625,  p.  S,  n.  26. 

8  Mem.  627.  This  is  but  an  indifferent  specimen  of  republican  manners, 
and  affords  a  great  contrast  with  our  own  times  when  loss  of  office  does  not 
imply  loss  of  friends. — See  Carlyle's  Cromwell,  iii.  126. 

a  The  following  year  Whitelock  officiated  at  Oliver's  installation,  "  having 
a  drawn  sword  in  his  hand." — Mem.  661. 


x655.]  FIENNES  AND  LISLE.  361 

education  without  any  view  to  the  profession  of  the  law. 
He  sat  for  Banbury  in  the  parliament  which  met  in  the 
beginning  of  1640,  and  again  in  the  Long  Parliament,  and 
was  much  in  the  confidence  of  Pym  and  the  popular 
leaders.  When  hostilities  began  he  had  a  commission 
given  him,  first  to  be  a  captain,  and  afterwards  a  colonel 
of  horse,  under  the  Earl  of  Essex,  General  of  the  parlia- 
mentary forces.  Inspiring  confidence  by  his  military 
ardor,  he  was  made  Governor  of  Bristol ;  but,  to  the 
great  disappointment  and  indignation  of  his  whole  party, 
he  surrendered  that  city  to  Prince  Rupert,  after  a  very 
feeble  defense. — He  was  brought  to  trial  before  a  court- 
martial  for  cowardice,  and  condemned  to  death  ;'  but  by 
the  intercession  of  his  father,  he  was  pardoned,  and  he 
afterwards  published  a  justification  of  his  conduct,  which 
very  much  reinstated  him  in  public  opinion.  Although 
not  afterwards  trusted  with  any  command  in  the  army, 
he  obtained  considerable  influence  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, and  was  a  very  active  committee-man.  He  was, 
for  a  long  time,  a  violent  Presbyterian,  and  supporter  of 
the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant.  In  consequence,  he 
was  expelled  from  the  House  by  Pride's  purge.  But  he 
then  made  a  sudden  wheel, — struck  in  with  the  Independ- 
ents,— favored  the  ascendency  of  the  army,  and  became  a 
tool  of  Cromwell.  Hence  his  present  promotion  to  the 
Bench  ;  and  the  highest  civil  office  in  the  state  was  com- 
mitted jointly  to  a  Colonel  and  a  Major. 

I  do  not  find  any  particular  account  of  the  manner  in 
which  Lords  Commissioners  Fiennes  and  Lisle  dis- 
charged their  judicial  duties,  although  there  were  loud 
complaints  of  their  general  incompetency.  However, 
their  appointment  was  sanctioned  by  Oliver's  third 
parliament,3  and  they  remained  in  office  till  his  death. 

1  4  St.  Tr.  186. 

4  On  the  loth  of  October,  1655,  there  came  the  following  message  from 
his  Highness,  addressed,  "  To  Our  right  trusty  and  right  well  beloved  Sir 
Thomas  Widdrington,  Knight,  Speaker  of  the  Parliament : 

"OLIVER,  P. 

"  Right  trusty  and  well  beloved,  We  greet  you  well.  It  being  expressed 
in  the  34th  article  of  the  Government  that  the  Chancellor,  Keeper,  or  Com- 
missioners of  the  Great  Seal  shall  be  chosen  by  the  approbation  of  parlia- 
ment, and  in  the  intervals  of  parliament,  by  the  approbation  of  the  major 
part  of  the  Council,  to  be  after  approved  by  the  parliament,  and  We  having 
before  the  meeting  of  the  parliament  appointed,  with  the  approbation  of  the 
Council,  Our  right  trusty  and  right  well  beloved  Nathaniel  Fiennes  and  John 


362     CHANCELLORS    OF  COMMONWEALTH.  [1656. 

It  may  be  presumed  that  they  continued  the  practice  of 
calling  in  the  assistance  of  the  Judges;  and  toe  must  re- 
member that  the  common-law  bench  never  was  better 
filled,  the  Protector  not  only  having  said  that  he  wished 
to  govern  by  "  red  gowns  rather  than  red  coats,"  but  hav- 
ing actually  appointed  Hale,  and  the  most  distinguished 
and  honorable  lawyers  in  the  profession  to  preside  in  the 
Upper  Bench,  the  Common  Bench,  and  the  Exchequer. 
The  Equity  business  in  Chancery  must  have  had  valuable 
assistance  from  Lenthal,  who,  released  from  his  duties  as 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons,  continued  Master  of 
the  Rolls,  and  was  noted  for  his  assiduity  and  ability  as  a 
Judge. 

The  two  Lords  Commissioners  of  the  Great  Seal  were, 
at  all  events,  very  active  politicians,  and  unscrupulously 
exerted  themselves  in  fulfilling  all  the  wishes  of  their 
master.  When  pressed  for  money,  and  trusting  to  the 
popularity  he  thought  he  had  acquired  by  his  successes 
against  Holland  and  Spain,  and  the  submissive  manner  in 
which  his  alliance  was  courted  by  France,  he  ventured  to 
call  another  parliament, — Colonel  Fiennes  and  Major 
Lisle  regulated  the  preliminary  proceedings  of  the  Council 
of  State,  by  which,  to  secure  a  majority  in  spite  of  the  un- 
favorable result  of  the  elections,  nearly  one  hundred  of 
the  members  returned  were  pronounced  disqualified  and 
incapable  of  sitting,  under  the  pretext  of  "  immorality  "  or 
"  delinquency."  On  the  day  of  meeting,  when  the  mem- 
bers had  returned  to  their  own  House  from  the  Painted 
Chamber,  after  the  Protector  had  harangued  them,  none 
were  allowed  to  enter  without  a  certificate  of  being  "  ap- 
proved by  his  Highness's  Council ;"  and  loud  complaints 
being  made  of  the  exclusions,  Lord  Commissioner  Lisle 
put  them  in  mind,  that  their  first  work  was  to  choose  a 
Speaker,  and  proposed  Sir  Thomas  Widdrington,  Ex- 
Commissioner  of  the  Great  Seal  (now  devoted  to  Crom- 
well), as  a  person  of  great  integrity  and  experience  in 

Lisle,  Commissioners  of  the  Great  Seal  of  England,  I  have  thought  it  neces- 
sary to  transmit  to  you  their  names,  to  the  end  that  the  resolution  of  parlia- 
ment may  be  known  concerning  their  approbation,  which  I  desire  may  be 
with  such  speed  as  the  other  public  occasions  of  the  Commonwealth  will  per- 
mit, and  so  I  bid  you  heartily  farewell."  The  required  approbation  was 
given  forthwith.  Sergeant  Glynne  was  approved  of  the  same  day  as  Chief 
Justice  of  the  Upper  Bench,  from  which  it  has  been  erroneously  supposed 
that  he  was  made  a  Commissioner  of  the  Great  Seal. — See  Hardy 's  Chan- 
cellars,  74. 


1657.]  FIENNES  AND  LISLE.  363 

relation  to  parliamentary  business,  and  every  way  quali- 
fied for  that  service.  Widdrington  being  placed  in  the 
chair,  a  motion  was  made,  that  the  excluded  members  be 
permitted  to  take  their  places,  as  it  was  for  the  House  to 
decide  upon  the  qualifications  of  its  members ;  but  here 
Lord  Commissioner  Fiennes  pointed  out  that  by  the  "  In- 
strument," which  now  regulated  the  constitution  of  the 
government,  the  Lords  of  the  Council  were  to  see  that  no 
papists  or  delinquents  should  be  returned  to  serve  in  par- 
liament, and  asserted,  that  this  trust  being  vested  in 
them,  they  had  discharged  it  according  to  the  best  of 
their  judgment.  It  could  not  be  denied  that  such  was 
the  provision  of  the  "  Instrument ;"  but  that  the  Council 
should  decide  on  secret  information,  and  without  the 
knowledge  of  the  constituents  or  representatives,  was 
alleged  to  be  contrary  to  the  first  principles  of  justice. 
By  dint  of  numbers,  a  motion  was  carried  "  that  the  House 
should  pass  to  the  business  of  the  nation." 

Under  such  management,  an  act  was  easily  carried  for 
excluding  Charles  Stuart  and  his  family  from  the  Crown, 
and  the  House  was  prepared  for  the  motion,  that  the  title 
of  King  should  be  offered  to  Cromwell.  This  motion  was 
to  have  been  made  by  Ex-Commissioner  Whitelock ;  but 
he  quailed  when  the  day  for  it  arrived,  and  the  task  de- 
volved on  Alderman  Pack,  one  of  the  representatives  for 
the  city  of  London.1  The  resolution  being  carried  with- 
out difficulty,  the  two  Lords  Commissioners  of  the  Great 
Seal,  with  Whitelock,  Lenthal,  Lord  Broghill,  and  others 
were  appointed  to  communicate  it  to  his  Highness,  and 
to  solicit  his  concurrence.  The  conferences  lasted  several 
days,  during  which  Lords  Commissioners  Fiennes  and 
Lisle  repeatedly  addressed  his  Highness,  and,  in  trying  to 
remove  his  affected  scruples,  certainly  display  more  legal 
acuteness  and  constitutional  learning  than  could  possibly 
have  been  expected  from  their  military  breeding.2 

1  Some  time  before,  by  way  of  a  feeler,  Jephson,  during  a  debate  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  had  thrown  out  this  suggestion  in  a  random  manner, 
and  it  was  not   ill   received.     When   Cromwell   afterwards   asked   him    in 
private  what  could  induce  him  to  do  so,  "  As  long,"  said  Jephson,  "  as  I  have 
the  honor  to  sit  in  parliament,  I  must  follow  the  dictates  of  my  own  con- 
science, whatever  offense  I  may  happen  to  give  to  your  Highness."     "  Get 
thee  gone,"  said  Cromwell,  giving  him  a  friendly  slap  on  the  shoulder,  "  get 
thee  gone  for  a  mad  fellow  as  thou  art." 

2  The  most  eloquent  speaker  on  this  occasion  was   Lord  Broghill,   after- 
wards famous  as  Earl  of  Orrery,  and  he  was  ably  supported  by  Whitelock 


364     CHANCELLORS  OF  COMMONWEALTH.  [1657. 

There  was  no  difficulty  in  convincing  the  person  to 
whom  their  arguments  were  addressed,  as  the  scheme  was 
his  own,  and  he  ardently  wished  to  accomplish  it.  The 
negotiation  was  prolonged  in  the  hope  of  softening  the 
opposition  to  it  among  the  officers  of  the  army,  who 
aspired  to  the  office  of  Protector  in  their  turn, — among 
the  determined  republicans,  who  had  sworn  never  again 
to  submit  to  hereditary  rule, — and  among  the  members  of 
the  Protector's  own  family,  several  of  whom  were  zealous 
royalists,  and  were  constantly  urging  him  to  restore  the 
ancient  family.  After  long  hesitation,  his  apprehensions 
of  insurrection  or  assassination  prevailed,  and  we  do  not 
find  the  name  of  Oliver  I.  in  the  list  of  the  Kings  of 
England. 

But  his  answer  being  merely  that  "  he  would  not  un- 
dertake the  government  with  that  title  of  King"  the  par- 
liament remodeled  the  constitution  by  "  the  Petition  and 
Advice,"  in  such  a  way  as  might  lead  to  hereditary 
limited  monarchy,  under  "  Protectors;"  and  if  Richard 
had  possessed  any  portion  of  his  father's  energy,  there 
might  have  been  a  change  of  dynasty,  and,  with  the  ad- 
vantage of  the  incorporating  union  which  had  been 
forcibly  accomplished  with  Scotland  and  Ireland,  the 
nation  might  sooner  have  reached  the  freedom,  prosperity, 
and  happiness  which  it  has  enjoyed  under  the  mild  sway 
of  the  House  of  Brunswick.  The  Protector  was  now  em- 
powered to  name  his  successor,  and  "  to  call  parliaments 
consisting  of  two  Houses,"  which  he  construed  into  a 
right  to  create  Peers.  As  soon  as  his  grand  inauguration 
was  over,1  he  prorogued  parliament,  without  dissolving  it, 
—that  he  might  have  time  to  model  his  new  House  of 
Lords,  which  was  to  be  brought  into  action  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  following  session. 

After  long  deliberation,  the  Lords  Commissioners  of  the 
Great  Seal  were  directed  to  issue  writs  of  summons  to 
the  new  Lords  in  the  terms  of  the  writ  of  summons  to 

and  Lenthal.     See   the   speeches  at   length   in  the  Life  of  Whiielock,  pp. 
275~295>  and  an  admirable  summary  of  them  in  Hume,  vol.  vii.  271. 

1  At  this  ceremony  Lord  Commissioner  Whitelock  acted  a  conspicuous 
part,  assisting  the  Speaker  to  clothe  the  Protector  in  his  purple  robe,  to  gird 
the  sword  about  his  Highness,  and  to  deliver  into  his  hand  the  scepter  of 
massy  gold— and  when  the  trumpets  sounded  and  the  heralds  proclaimed  him, 
joining  in  the  shouts  of  God  save  th*  Lord  Protector!  // — Whit.  662.  Car- 
lyle's  Cromwell,  iii.  273-316. 


1658.]  FIENNES  AND  LISLE.  365 

Peers  under  the  monarchy ;  and  the  Judges  gave  it  as 
their  opinion  that  those  who  sat  under  these  writs  would 
gain  a  peerage  in  fee  descendible  to  their  posterity.1  At 
the  top  of  the  list  of  those  summoned  were  the  names  of 
the  Protector's  two  sons — the  Lord  Richard  and  the 
Lord  Henry  Cromwell  (as  Princes  of  the  Blood),  and, 
next,  Lord  Fiennes  and  Lord  Lisle,  the  Lords  Commis- 
sioners of  the  Great  Seal.  Afterwards  follow  the  names 
of  Lord  Whitelock,  of  Lord  Morpeth,  ancestor  of  the 
present  Earl  of  Carlisle,  and  of  Lord  Monk  (the  Restorer). 
Four  or  five  of  the  old  nobility  were  summoned,  but  they 
refused  to  attend ;  and  Sir  Arthur  Hazelrig,  and  two  or 
three  other  members  of  the  House  of  Commons  who  were 
included,  wisely  preferred  to  continue  to  sit  there.* 

On  the  day  appointed  for  the  re-assembling  of  parlia- 
ment the  session  was  opened  by  the  Lord  Protector  with 
all  the  forms  and  all  the  pomp  of  the  ancient  sovereigns. 
The- new  Lords  met  in  the  old  chamber  which  was  orna- 
mented with  the  tapestry  of  the  Armada.  A  chair  of 
state  was  there  placed  for  his  Highness,  resembling  the 
throne.  There  were  no  Bishops,  for  they  had  been  ex- 
cluded by  Charles;  but  in  their  place  the  Judges,  in 
scarlet  and  ermine,  were  seated  on  the  right  of  the  throne. 
The  Lord  Protector,  in  splendid  attire,  and  wearing  a  hat 
with  a  gold  band,  attended  by  his  great  officers,  and  sur- 
rounded by  his  Life  Guards,  having  come  from  Whitehall 
in  a  carriage  more  splendid  than  Stuart  ever  sat  in,  and 
seated  himself  under  the  "  cloth  of  state," — the  Gentle- 
man Usher  of  the  Black  Rod  was  sent  to  command  the 
immediate  attendance  of  the  Commons,  in  the  name  of 
his  Highness.  They  soon  appeared  at  the  bar,  headed  by 
Widdrington,  their  Speaker;  and  the  two  Lords  Com- 
missioners of  the  Great  Seal,  with  the  other  great  officers 

1  The  original  warrant  was  "  for  the  Commissioners  of  the  Seal,  with  the 
advice  of  the  Judges,  to  prepare  and  frame  a  writ  for  summoning  the  mem- 
bers of  the  other  House  of  parliament  to  meet  at  such  time  and  place  as 
shall  be  appointed  by  his  Highness  ;  and  the  Commissioners  are  to  seal  such 
writs  and  to  issue  them  out  to  such  persons  as  his  Highness,  under  his  sign- 
manual,  shall  direct  and  appoint." —  Whit.  662. 

'2  For  an  analysis  of  this  House  of  Peers,  see  Carlyle's  Cromwell,  iii.  390. 
Cromwell  likewise  created  knights  and  baronets,  by  what  authority  I  know 
not,  for  it  is  not  given  by  the  "  Instrument  of  Government,"  or  the  "  Petition 
and  Advice."  Not  being  a  knight  himself,  he  could  not  deal  according  to 
the  ancient  usages  of  chivalry,  but  he  must  have  had  the  opinion  of  his  law 
officers  on  the  subject,  for  both  his  Attorney  and  Solicitor  General  became 
baronets. —  Whit:  Mem.  674. 


366     CHANCELLORS  OF  COMMONWEALTH.  [1658. 

standing  by  his  side,  his  Highness,  to  the  great  scandal  of 
true  republicans,  thus  began  : — 

"  My  Lords,  and  Gentlemen  of  the  House  of  Commons." 
— After  a  speech  much  shorter  than  his  usual  tiresome, 
embarrassed  harangues,  he  said  that  Lord  Commissioner 
Fiennes  would  explain  more  fully  the  reasons  for  now 
calling  parliament  together;  and  the  Lord  Commissioner 
accordingly  delivered  a  long  address  to  the  two  Houses, 
by  way  of  enlargement  on  that  of  his  Highness ;  com- 
paring the  present  state  of  England  to  the  rising  of 
Cosmos  out  of  chaos,  as  recorded  in  Genesis ;  and  ob- 
serving that  "  two  firmaments  are  made  two  separate 
houses  of  parliament."1 

But  this  first  attempt  at  a  restoration  of  the  ancient 
constitution,  with  modern  amendments,  proved  wholly 
abortive.  Cromwell  was  much  weakened  in  the  Commons 
by  transferring  so  many  active  supporters  to  the  other 
House ;  and  there  being  an  article  in  "  the  Petition  and 
Advice"  that  each  House  should  judge  of  the  qualifica- 
tion of  its  members,  the  excluded  representatives  were 
all  admitted  to  take  their  seats,  so  that  there  was  im- 
mediately a  decided  majority  against  the  Government. 

The  Peers,  however,  with  Lord  Fiennes  on  the  wool- 
sack, having  taken  the  oaths,  proceeded  to  business,  and 
on  the  second  day  after  their  meeting  came  unanimously 
to  a  resolution,  "that  an  humble  address  be  presented  to 
the  Lord  Protector,  praying  that  his  Highness  would  be 
pleased  to  appoint  a  day  of  public  humiliation  throughout 
the  three  nations."  Two  Judges,  Wyndham  and  Hill, 
were  sent  down  to  the  Commons  to  communicate  this 
resolution,  and  to  ask  them  to  concur  in  the  address. 
The  messengers  were  admitted,  and  allowed  to  deliver 
their  message  ;  but  when  they  had  withdrawn,  a  motion 
being  made  that  they  be  again  called  in  and  informed 
that  this  House  concurs  in  the  address  to  his  Highness, 
an  amendment  was  moved,  by  an  opposition  member, 
that  "  this  House  will  send  an  answer  by  messengers  of 
their  own  ;  "  and,  after  a  sharp  debate,  the  amendment 
was  carried  by  a  majority  of  75  to  51.  His  Highness, 
greatly  enraged  at  this  rebuff,  sent  for  the  Commons  to 
Whitehall  (without  the  Lords),  and  read  them  a  severe 

1  Carlyle's  Cromwell,  iii.  399.  This  was  an  approach  to  the  ancient 
fashion  on  such  occasions,  of  taking  a  text  from  Scripture  as  a  thesis. 


1658.]  FIENNES    AND    LISLE.  367 

lecture  on  their  contumacy  ;  but  this  only  led  to  a  com- 
plaint of  breach  of  privilege,  and  a  debate  on  the  appel- 
lation and  powers  of  the  other  House, — with  the  expres- 
sion of  some  doubts  as  to  the  validity  of  the  "  Petition 
and  Advice,"  on  the  ground  that  it  had  not  been  voted 
by  a  free  parliament. 

"  Their  new  Lordships,  desirous  to  try  the  pulse  of  the 
Commons  once  more,"  '  sent  a  message  to  them  in  writing, 
by  two  of  the  Judges,  on  a  subject  expected  to  rouse  all 
their  sympathy,  "  that  the  Lords  desired  the  Commons 
to  join  with  them  in  an  address  to  the  Lord  Protector, 
that  his  Highness  would  be  pleased  to  issue  a  proclama- 
tion, by  the  advice  of  both  Houses,  commanding  all  Pa- 
pists and  others  who  had  been  in  arms  against  the  Com- 
monwealth, to  depart  out  of  London  and  Westminster,  • 
and  twenty  miles  thereof,  by  a  certain  day."  But  as  soon 
as  the  message  was  delivered,  the  Commons  resolved, 
without  a  division,  "that  they  would  send  an  answer  by 
messengers  of  their  own." 

The  next  morning  news  was  brought  to  Cromwell,  at 
Whitehall,  that  they  were  resuming  the  debate  on  "  the 
appellation  and  powers  of  the  other  House  ;  "  when,  not 
staying  for  his  state  carriage,  he  threw  himself  into  a 
hackney-coach  standing  by,  drawn  by  two  shabby  horses, 
and  attended  only  by  six  of  his  guards,  whom  he  beckoned 
to  follow  him,  he  proceeded  to  the  House  of  Lords,  and 
sending  the  Gentleman  Usher  of  the  Black  Rod  for  the 
Commons,  made  them  an  angry  speech,  which  he  con- 
cluded with  these  words: — "  I  think  it  high  time  that  an 
end  be  put  to  your  sitting,  and  I  do  dissolve  this  parlia- 
ment, and  let  God  judge  between  you  and  me."  * 

A  bill  had  been  introduced  into  the  House  of  Commons 
this  session  "  for  better  regulating  and  limiting  the  juris- 
diction of  the  Court  of  Chancery,  but,  along  with  various 
others,  it  was  lost  by  the  hasty  dissolution."  s 

The  Protector  was  now  obliged,  on  the  discovery  of  a 
royalist  plot,  to  resort  to  a  very  arbitrary  measure,  by  es- 
tablishing a  High  Court  of  Justice,  which  was  to  decide 
on  life  and  death  without  a  jury,  and  without  the  control 
of  any  known  law.  The  Lords  Commissioners  of  the 

1  3  Parl.  Hist.  1524.         9  3  Parl.  Hist.  1525.     Carlyle's  Cromwell,  iii.  432. 
8  Com.  Jour.  vii.  527,  528. 


368     CHANCELLORS  OF  COMMONWEALTH.  [1658. 

Great  Seal  were  placed  at  the  head  of  it,  and  Lord  Lisle 
acted  as  President. 

I  will  give  a  short  specimen  of  the  judicial  mildness  of 
this  protectorial  functionary  on  the  trial  of  Colonel 
Slingsby,  which  may  soften  our  resentment  against  the 
tyranny  of  the  Stuart  Judges  : — Lord  Lisle,  "  Thou  here 
standest  charged  for  high  treason  ;  this  Court  requires 
that  thou  give  a  positive  answer  whether  guilty  or  not 
guilty." — Slingsby.  "  I  desire  to  have  counsel  assigned 
me." — Lord  Lisle.  "  There  is  matter  of  fact  laid  to  your 
charge  which  amounts  to  treason,  and  there  is  no  counsel 
allowed  in  matter  of  fact." — Slingsby.  "  There  is  also 
matter  of  law,  and  I  desire  to  be  tried  by  a  jury  which  is 
according  to  the  law  of  the  land." — Lord  Lisle.  "  We  are 
all  here  your  jury  as  well  as  your  judges  ;  we  are  the 
number  of  two  or  three  juries." — Slingsby.  "If  it  be  by 
the  law  of  the  land  that  the  trial  shall  be  by  a  jury,  I  de- 
sire I  may  have  that  privilege." — Lord  Lisle.  "  Acts  of 
parliament  make  justice  and  law :  they  are  both.  They 
think  fit  to  change  the  custom  of  trials  that  have  been  in 
former  times." — Slingsby.  "  I  desire  that  the  act  of  par- 
liament may  be  read." — Lord  Lisle.  "  You  are  before 
your  jury  and  judges.  Parliament  have  great  care  of  the 
rights  of  the  people,  and  have  appointed  this  Court ;  and 
his  Highness  hath  appointed  you  to  be  tried  by  us.  All 
must  submit  to  my  Lord  Protector.  We  sit  here  by 
authority  of  his  Highness  by  a  commission  under  the 
Great  Seal,  and  by  authority  of  parliament,  and  you  must 
submit  to  our  authority."  The  prisoner  was  convicted  for 
having  acted  under  a  commission  from  Charles  II.,  and  in 
passing  sentence  of  death,  Lord  Lisle  thus  addressed  him: 
"  It  grieves  my  very  soul  to  thinkthat,  after  so  many  signal 
providences  wherein  God  seems  to  declare  himself,  as  it 
were,  by  signs  and  wonders,  that  your  heart  should  be 
still  hardened,  I  may  say,  more  hardened  than  the  very 
hearts  of  the  Egyptians ;  for  they,  at  length,  did  not  only 
see,  but  confessed,  that  the  Lord  fought  against  them ; 
but  you,  oh,  that  you  would  confess  and  give  glory  to 
God!  You  can  not  choose  but  see  .that  the  Lord  fights 
against  you,  that  the  stars  in  their  courses  fight  against 
you ;  and  yet  you  will  not  see,  you  will  not  confess,  until 
destruction  overtakes  you."  l 

1  5  St.  Tr.  871. 


1658.]  FIENNES    AND    LISLE.  369 

The  frightful  common-law  sentence  for  high  treason  was 
pronounced,  all  which  his  Highness  was  pleased  to  remit 
— except  decapitation. 

Whitelock  refused  to  serve  on  this  high  Court ;  yet  he 
continued  in  favor  with  the  Protector,  who  himself  had  a 
regard  for  law  and  justice,  as  far  as  was  consistent  with 
the  enjoyment  of  his  own  authority.1  A  patent  was  even 
signed  by  him  for  raising  Whitelock  to  the  dignity  of  a 
Viscount.  This  honor  was  declined  by  the  Lord  Com- 
misioner;  but  under  his  former  writ  of  summons  to  the 
House  of  Lords,  it  was  considered  that  his  blood  was  en- 
nobled; he  was  treated  as  a  Baron,  and  he  was  designated 
Lord  Whitelock  till  the  Restoration.* 

When  the  next  anniversary  of  the  great  victories  of 
Dunbar  and  of  Worcester  came  round  Oliver  expired,  and 
it  is  generally  supposed  that  the  day  was  still  auspicious 
to  him  ;  but  such  had  continued  to  be  the  success  as  well 
as  vigor  of  his  administration,  so  much  was  he  dreaded 
by  foreign  states,  and  so  much  was  he  respected  at  home, 
not  only  for  raising  the  national  credit  to  a  pitch  un- 
known since  the  days  of  the  Plantagenets,  but  for  the  de- 
sire which  he  had  shown  to  govern  according  to  law,  and 
to  improve  our  institutions,  that  if  his  life  had  been  pro- 
longed, there  seems  reason  to  think  he  might  have  over- 
come all  the  difficulties  which  surrounded  him,  and  that, 
notwithstanding  the  imbecility  of  Richard,  his  scepter 
might  have  been  long  borne  by  his  posterity.* 

1  "  The  government  of  Cromwell  was,  to  be  sure,  somewhat  rigid,  but  for 
a  new  power,  no  savage  tyranny.     The  country  was  nearly  as  well  in  his  days 
a=  in  those  of  Charles  II.,   and  in  some  points  much  better.     The  laws  in 
general  had  their  course,  and  were  admirably  administered." — Burke,  Re- 
marks on  Policy  of  the  Allies. 

2  I   only  find  one  other  creation  by  Oliver  above  the  degree  of  a  Baron, 
"Viscount     Howard   of   Morpeth,    July   20,    1657,    afterwards    created  by 
Charles  II.,  Baron  Dacre,  Viscount  Howard  of  Morpeth,  and  Earl  of  Carlisle, 
April  30,  1661."  »  See  Carlyle's  Cromwell,  iii.  448-460. 

III. — 24 


370     CHANCELLORS  OF  COMMONWEALTH.  [1659. 


CHAPTER     LXXII. 

LORDS    COMMISSIONERS    OF   THE    GREAT   SEAL   FROM   THE 
DEATH  OF  CROMWELL  TILL  THE  RESTORATION. 

ON  the  doubtful  assertion  that  Oliver,  according  to 
the  power  conferred  upon  him  by  the  Petition 
and  Advice,  had  duly  named  his  eldest  son  as  his 
successor,  Richard  was  immediately  proclaimed  Lord 
Protector  in  London  and  throughout  the  kingdom, — with 
all  the  solemnities  practiced  on  the  accession  of  a  new 
Sovereign.  Nay,  addresses  to  him  came  pouring  in  from 
all  classes  in  a  manner  greatly  to  lower  the  value  of  such 
supposed  tokens  of  affection, — pledging  "  lives  and  for- 
tunes "  in  his  support, — and  declaring,  "that  though  the 
sun  had  set  no  night  followed,"  and  that,  "  though  Provi- 
dence by  one  sad  stroke  had  taken  away  the  breath  from 
their  nostrils,  it  had  given  them  in  return  the  noblest 
branch  of  that  renowned  stock — a  prince  distinguished  by 
the  lovely  composition  of  his  person,  and  still  more  by  the 
eminent  qualities  of  his  mind." 

The  new  Protector  at  first  graciously  confirmed  the 
Great  Seal  to  the  military  Lords  Commissioners,  Lord 
Fiennes  and  Lord  Lisle  ;  but  hearing  loud  complaints  of 
their  incompetency,  he  soon  after,  while  sitting  in  Council, 
desired  them  to  surrender  it,  and  re-delivered  it  to  them 
jointly  with  Lord  Whitelock,  in  whose  judicial  integrity 
and  ability  he  and  the  public  entertained  the  highest 
confidence.1 

Writs  of  summons  for  a  new  parliament  having  been 
issued  by  the  Lords  Commissioners  under  the  Great  Seal, 
the  session  was  opened  by  Richard  according  to  royal 
forms,  except  that,  having  addressed  both  houses  himself 

1  "Dec.  30.  I  went  about  the  business  of  the  Great  Seal,  whereof  I  was 
now  again  made  a  Commissioner.  Richard  had  a  particular  respect  for  me> 
and  upon  the  22nd  of  this  month,  by  advice  of  some  near  to  him,  without 
any  seeking  for  it  by  me,  I  was  sent  for  to  Whitehall,  where  I  met  the  two 
Lords  Commissioners  of  the  Seal,  Fiennes  and  Lisle,  and  they  together 
being  called  to  the  Council  Chamber,  the  Great  Seal  was  delivered  to  his 
Highness  sitting  in  Council,  and  his  Highness  presently  delivered  it  to 
Fiennes,  Lisle,  and  me,  as  Keepers  of  the  Great  Seal  of  England." —  Whit. 
676.  He  adds  that  his  appointment  was  generally  attributed  to  Fiennes,  who 
had  found  Lisle  incompetent. 


1659-J    WHITELOCK,    FIENNES    AND    LISLE.      371 

in  a  very  sensible  speech,  he  did  not  call  upon  any 
Keeper  of  the  Great  Seal  further  to  explain  the  reasons 
for  assembling  them. 

The  three  Commissioners,  being  all  ennobled,  took  the 
oaths  with  the  other  Peers,  Lord  Whitelock  presiding  on 
the  woolsack.  But  they  could  never  get  any  further 
recognition  of  their  "order"  from  the  Commons,  than 
"  that  this  House  will  transact  with  the  persons  now  sitting 
in  the  other  House  as  a  House  of  Parliament  for  the  present, 
without  prejudice  to  the  privilege  of  such  Peers  as  have 
been  faithful  to  the  parliament,  of  being  duly  summoned 
to  be  members  of  that  House."  The  parliament  was  soon 
found  wholly  unmanageable,  and  a  majority  of  Richard's 
council  advised  him  to  dissolve  it,  and  to  trust  rather  to 
the  combination  of  military  officers  now  struggling  for 
supreme  rule.  This  step  was  strongly  opposed  by  Lord 
Whitelock,  who  foretold  that  it  would  eventually  lead  to 
the  destruction  of  the  Protectorate  ;  but  he  was  overruled, 
and  a  commission  was  made  out  for  dissolving  the  parlia- 
ment, Lord  Fiennes  being  named  the  head  Commissioner. 
The  commission  being  announced  to  the  Lords,  and  the 
Commissioners  having  taken  their  seats  under  the  steps 
of  the  throne,  the  Black  Rod  was  ordered  to  summon  the 
Commons  to  the  bar;  but  they  declared  they  would  re- 
ceive no  communication  from  the  Lords  except  by  mem- 
bers, of  that  House,  and  adjourned  for  three  days.  Lord 
Fiennes,  however,  in  the  absence  of  the  Commons, 
ordered  the  commission  to  be  read,  and  in  the  name  of 
his  Highness,  the  Lord  Protector,  dissolved  the  parlia- 
ment. A  proclamation  under  the  Great  Seal  communi- 
cated the  information  to  the  nation  the  same  afternoon.1 

By  this  dissolution  Richard  had  signed  his  own  deposi^ 
tion.  Although  he  continued  to  reside  at  Whitehall,  he 
was  deserted  by  all  the  world,  and  the  government  was  in 
complete  abeyance  till  the  council  of  officers  thought  fit 
to  restore  the  Long  Parliament,  thinking  they  would  have 
a  better  chance  of  power  by  possessing  such  an  instru- 
ment under  their  control.  A  majority  of  the  surviving 
members  were  Presbyterians  and  Royalists,  but  they  were 
still  prevented  by  violence  from  entering  the  House,  and 
the  "  Rump,"  consisting  chiefly  of  those  who  had  voted 

1  3  Parl.  Hist.  1544. 


372     CHANCELLORS  OF  COMMONWEALTH.  [1659 

for   the    King's   death,    did   not   exceed  the   number  of 
seventy. 

The  new  House  of  Lords  had  vanished  like  a  morning 
mist,  and  Whitelock  was  allowed  to  take  his  place  in  the 
Commons  as  a  member  for  Buckinghamshire,  for  which 
he  had  been  returned  in  1640  ;  but  he  was  much  too  mod- 
erate and  too  much  of  a  trimmer  to  be  in  favor  with  the 
ruling  faction,  and  their  first  step  was  to  deprive  him  and 
his  colleagues  of  the  custody  of  the  Great  Seal.  Two  days 
after  the  Rump  re-assembled  they  agreed  to  a  resolution 
"  that  a  new  Great  Seal  be  with  all  speed  prepared  and 
brought  into  this  House,  according  to  the  form  of  the 
last  Great  Seal  made  by  authority  of  this  parliament, 
and  that  the  last  Great  Seal  be  brought  into  this  House  to 
be  broken  before  the  parliament." 

A  new  Great  Seal  being  made,  an  act  was  passed  for 
appointing  Lenthal  the  sole  Keeper  of  it  for  eight  days, 
and  for  ordering  the  old  Great  Seal  to  be  broken.1 

The  old  Seal  being  brought  into  the  House  by  Lord 
Whitelock,  was  accordingly  broken  by  a  smith  into  several 
pieces,  which  were  given  to  the  Ex-Commissioners  for 
their  fees,  and  the  new  Seal  was  put  into  the  hands  of 
Lenthal  as  "  Lord  Keeper  for  the  Commonwealth." 
There  being  great  difficulty  in  the  selection  of  those  who 
were  permanently  to  hold  it,  another  act  was  passed  to 
continue  him  some  time  longer  in  the  office. 

In  the  meanwhile  the  parliament  resolved  "that  the 
Court  of  Chancery  be  thoroughly  reformed  and  regulated, 

1  "An  act  for  the  Great  Seal  of  England :  Be  it  enacted  by  this  present 
parliament  and  the  authority  of  the  same,  that  the  Seal  on  the  side  whereo/ 
is  engraven  the  maps  of  England,  Ireland,  and  the  Isles  of  Jersey,  Guernsey, 
and  Man,  with  the  arms  of  England  and  Ireland,  and  this  inscription,  viz., 
'The  Great  Seal  of  England,  1651,' and  on  the  other  side  the  sculpture  of 
the  parliament  sitting,  with  this  inscription,  viz.,  '  In  the  third  year  of 
freedom,  by  God's  blessing  restored,  1651,'  shall  from  henceforth  be  the 
Great  Seal  of  England,  and  none  other,  and  shall  be  and  is  hereby  autho- 
rized and  established  to  be  of  the  like  force,  power,  and  validity,  to 
all  intents  and  purposes,  as  any  Great  Seal  of  England  hath  heretofore 
been  or  ought  to  be,  and  that  Wm.  Lenthal,  Speaker  of  the  parliament, 
be  and  he  is  hereby  nominated,  constituted,  and  appointed  Keeper  of  the 
Great  Seal  of  Commonwealth  of  England,  to  have,  hold,  exercise,  and 
enjoy  the  said  office  to  the  said  Wm.  Lenthal,  from  this  I4th  day  of  May, 
1659,  for  the  space  of  eight  days  from  hence  next  ensuing,  and  no  longer, 
and  that  in  as  full,  ample  and  beneficial  manner  to  all  intents  and  purposes 
as  any  Lord  Chancellor  of  England,  Lord  Keeper,  or  Lords  Commissioners 
of  the  Great  Seal  may,  might,  should,  or  ought  to  have  had,  exercised,  or  en- 
joyed the  same." — Scobelfs  Ads 


1659.]    BRADSHAW,     TERRYLL,    FOUNTAIN.      373 

and  that  the  whole  profits,  fees,  and  perquisites  arising 
from  the  office  of  Keeper  of  the  Great  Seal,  should  be 
sequestered  and  go  to  the  use  of  the  Commonwealth."1 

The  nomination  of  the  new  Commissioners  of  the  Great 
Seal  was  referred  to  "the  Council  of  State,"  and  they 
recommended  Bradshaw,  who  had  presided  at  the  King's 
trial,  with  Terryll  and  Fountain,  two  lawyers  known  only 
for  their  violent  republican  principles.  There  was  an 
objection  made  to  the  appointment  of  such  men,  but  it 
was  carried  by  a  majority  of  43  to  15.  The  Commissioners 
were  introduced  into  the  House,  and  marching  up  to  the 
table,  with  three  reverences  to  the  speaker,  received  the 
Great  Seal  from  him  after  he  had  administered  to  them 
the  following  oath:  "You  shall  swear  that  you  shall 
be  true  and  faithful  to  this  Commonwealth,  as  it  is 
declared  by  parliament,  without  a  single  person,  Kingship, 
or  House  of  Peers,  and  that  you  shall  well  and  truly 
execute  the  office  of  Commissioners  of  the  Great  Seal  of 
England,  according  to  the  best  of  your  skill,  knowledge, 
and  power."2 

They  were  ordered  to  pass  a  Commission  to  authorize 
the  Master  of  the  Rolls,  with  certain  Judges  and  Masters 
in  Chancery,  to  hear  causes  after  taking  the  prescribed 
oath  of  allegiance  to  the  Commonwealth,  and  abjuration 
of  Kingship  and  House  of  Peers.3  These  three  Commis- 
sioners remained  in  possession  of  the  Great  Seal  for  five 
months,  while  the  "  Rump  "  was  permitted  to  sit,  and 
was  ostensibly  the  supreme  power  in  the  State  ;  but  I  do 
not  find  any  account  of  their  judicial  proceedings."  In  the 
distracted  condition  to  which  the  nation  was  reduced  the 
administration  of  justice  must  have  been  nearly  suspended, 
and  the  executive  government  was  carried  on  jointly  by 
the  parliament  and  the  council  of  officers. 

The  dissensions  between  these  bodies  ended  in  General 
Lambert,  with  a  body  of  3,000  guards,  intercepting  the 
Speaker  in  Palace  Yard  as  he  was  proceeding  to  take  the 
chair,  and  forcibly  preventing  him  or  any  of  the  members 

1  Com.  Jour.  vii.  670.     Whitelock,  680. 

s  The  oath  was  administered   to  them   "  holding  up  their  hands,"  from 
which  I  conjecture  that  the  ceremony  of  kissing  the  book  was  then  abolished. 

3  Com.  Jour.  vii.  728. 

4  During  all  this  time  Bradshaw  had  been  ill  of  a  quartan  ague,  of  which 
he  died  on  the  3ist  of  October,  "a  stout  man  and  learned  in  his  profession: 
no  friend  to  monarchy." —  Whit.  686 


374   CHANCELLORS  OF  COMMONWEALTH.    [1659. 

from  entering  the  House  of  Commons.  Thus  the  Rump 
was  again  ignominously  expelled,  and  the  officers  assembled 
at  Wallingford  House  were  for  a  time  the  supreme  power 
in  the  State.  That  their  rule  might  appear  to  be  in  some 
degree  tempered  by  the  presence  of  a  civilian,  they  issued 
the  following  missive  to  Whitelock,  judging  from  his 
pliable  character  that  he  would  not  much  obstruct  their 
schemes : — 

"  To  our  honored  Friend,  Bulstrode,  Lord  Whitelock. 
"  Sir, 

"  Upon  consideration  of  the  present  posture  of  affairs 
of  this  Commonwealth,  the  General  Council  of  Officers  of 
the  Army  have  thought  fit  to  appoint  a  Committee  of 
Safety  for  the  preservation  of  the  peace  and  management 
of  the  present  goverment  thereof;  as  also  for  their  pre- 
paring of  a  form  of  a  future  government  for  these  nations 
upon  the  foundation  of  a  Commonwealth,  or  free  state : 
and  yourself  being  one  of  the  persons  nominated  for  that 
purpose,  we  do,  by  their  direction,  hereby  give  you  notice 
thereof,  and  desire  you  to  repair  to-morrow  morning,  at 
ten  o'clock,  to  the  Horse-chamber  at  Whitehall,  in  order 
to  the  service  aforesaid." 

Whitelock's  character  will  be  best  appreciated  by  allow- 
ing him  now  to  speak  in  his  own  person  :  "  I  was  in  some 
perplexity  what  to  do  upon  this  letter,  and  had  much  dis- 
course with  my  friends  about  it.  Desborough  and  some 
other  great  officers  of  the  army,  actors  in  this  business, 
came  to  me,  and  made  it  their  earnest  request  to  me  to 
undertake  the  trust,  and  told  me  that  some  had  a  design 
to  overthrow  magistracy,  ministry,  and  the  law,  and  that, 
to  be  a  balance  to  them,  I  and  some  others  had  been 
chosen  to  oppose  this  design,  and  to  support  and  preserve 
the  laws,  magistracy,  and  ministry  in  these  nations  :  that 
if  I  should  deny  to  undertake  the  charge,  it  would  much 
trouble  the  General  Council  of  Officers,  and  be  of  great 
prejudice  to  the  intended  settlement  ;  and  therefore  they 
most  earnestly  desired  me  to  accept  of  this  employment. 
I  had  resolved  in  my  mind  the  present  state  of  affairs  ; 
that  there  was  no  visible  authority  or  power  for  govern- 
ment at  this  time  but  that  of  the  army;  that  if  some  legal 
authority  were  not  agreed  upon  and  settled,  the  army 
would  probably  take  it  into  their  hands,  and  govern  by 
the  sword,  or  set  up  some  form  prejudicial  to  the  rights 


1659.]  LORD     WHITELOCK.  375 

•and  privileges  of  the  people,  and  for  the  particular  advan- 
tage and  interest  of  the  soldiery,  and  that  to  prevent  these 
evils,  and  to  keep  things  in  a  better  order  and  form,  I 
might  be  instrumental  in  this  employment.  Upon  these 
and  the  like  grounds,  I  was  persuaded  to  undertake  it, 
and  did  meet  with  them  at  the  place  appointed,  where  I 
was  received  by  them  with  all  respect  and  civility."1 

The  first  act  of  the  new  government  was  to  restore  the 
Great  Seal  to  the  keeping  of  the  gentleman  who  had 
first  sent  in  his  adhesion,  and  the  following  order  was 
made : — 

"  At  the  Committee  of  Safety,  at  Whitehall. 

"The  Committee  of  Safety,  taking  into  consideration 
the  necessity  of  disposing  of  the  Great  Seal  so  as  the 
same  may  be  made  use  of  for  the  public  service,  and  the 
administration  of  justice, 

"  Ordered  that  the  custody  of  the  Great  Seal  of  Eng- 
land- be  committed  to  the  Lord  Whitelock,  as  Commis- 
sioner and  Keeper  of  the  said  Great  Seal  until  further 
order.  And  the  same  was  accordingly  delivered  to  his 
hands  by  the  Lord  President,  and  ordered  that  an  entry 
of  the  delivery  of  the  Great  Seal  to  the  said  Lord  White- 
lock  as  Commissioner  and  Keeper  of  the  said  Great  Seal 
be  made  in  the  Close  Roll  in  Chancery.* 

"  WM.  ROBINSON, 
ft  Clerk  of  the  Committee  of  Safety." 

It  does  seem  most  extraordinary  that  a  lawyer  of 
Whitelock's  reputation  and  abilities  could  be  induced  to 
take  his  seat  among  these  military  chiefs,  so  notorious  for 
their  fanaticism,  their  violence,  and  their  utter  ignorance 
of  the  principles  on  which  mankind  are  to  be  governed. 
The  present  revolution  was  received  with  more  general 
disapprobation  than  any  preceding  change  which  had  sur- 
prised and  perplexed  the  nation  since  the  death  of  the 
last  King.  There  was  no  regret  for  the  "  Rump  ;"  but  all 
thinking  men  were  alarmed  to  find  themselves  under  the 
capricious  and  arbitrary  rule  of  military  adventurers,  with- 
out a  leader  to  correct  their  extravagance  or  to  soften 
their  violence. 

For  two  months  did  Lord  Keeper  Whitelock  continue 
with  that  title  in  possession  of  the  Great  Seal.  Apart- 

1  Mem.  685,  686. 

8  The  entry  was  made  accordingly. — Rot.  Cl.  1659  p.  2,  n.  39. 


376   CHANCELLORS  OF  COMMONWEALTH.    [1659. 

ments  were  assigned  to  him  in  Whitehall,  where,  he  says, 
"  he  sealed  commissions  and  heard  motions  and  causes, 
the  counsel  and  clients  coming  thither  very  willingly  to 
attend  upon  their  business."  ' 

But  the  public  distractions  increasing  as  Monk  ap- 
proached, it  soon  became  necessary  to  postpone  all  judicial 
business  to  a  quieter  time." 

The  Council  or  Committee  of  Safety,  with  Whitelock's 
concurrence,  agreed  on  seven  articles  as  the  basis  of  the 
future  government: — I.  That  there  be  no  Kingship. — 2. 
No  single  person  as  Chief  Magistrate. — 3.  That  an  army 
be  continued. — 4.  No  imposition  upon  conscience. — 5. 
No  House  of  Peers. — 6.  The  Legislative  and  Executive 
powers  to  be  in  distinct  hands. — 7.  Parliaments  to  be 
elected  by  the  people. 

The  Lord  Keeper  actually  issued  a  proclamation  for  a 
new  parliament,  a  measure  which  gave  general  satisfac- 
tion ;  but  the  officers  immediately  became  alarmed  lest 
they  should  be  superseded  by  a  national  assembly  freely 
elected.  They  said  that  though  very  desirous  for  a  parlia- 
ment they  must  be  sure  of  being  able  to  preserve  an  as- 
cendency over  it,  and  they  insisted  that  the  Lord  Keeper, 
in  the  writs  to  be  issued  under  the  Great  Seal,  should  in- 
troduce some  very  novel  and  fantastical  restrictions  on 
the  qualifications  both  of  electors  and  those  to  be  elected. 
He  represented  "  that  these  restrictions  were  expressly 
contrary  to  law  and  to  the  oath  he  had  taken  as  Lord 
Keeper  of  the  Great  Seal,  and  that  he  could  not,  without 
the  breach  of  his  duty,  seal  writs  for  a  parliament  after 
that  manner."  Some  of  the  officers  saying  "  that  if  he 
would  not,  they  would  seal  the  writs  themselves  in  their 

1  Mem.  688. 

"Wednesday,  Nov.  16,  1659. 
"  At  the  Committee  of  Safety  at  Whitehall. 

"  This  Committee  holding  it  convenient  and  necessary  for  divers  weighty 
reasons  to  adjourn  the  remaining  part  of  this  present  Term  from  and  after 
Saturday,  the  igth  of  this  instant  Novr. — It  is  therefore  ordered,  that  the  re- 
maining part  of  the  aforesaid  present  Term  upon  and  from  the  day  aforesaid 
be  adjourned  until  the  first  day  of  the  next  Term  ;  and  to  prevent  the  dis- 
continuance of  any  process,  suits,  or  causes  now  depending,  or  any  inconveni- 
ence to  the  people  thereby,  it  is  also  ordered,  that  writs  of  adjournment  of 
the  said  Term  shall  be  issued  and  passed  the  Great  Seal  of  England  in  the 
usual  form  for  this  purpose  ;  and  the  Lord  Keeper  Whitelock,  Keeper  of  the 
Great  Seal,  is  authorized  to  issue  forth  writs  accordingly." 

Whitelock  says,  "  I  caused  these  writs  to  be  framed,  sealed,  and  issued 
forth  in  time." — 688. 


1659.]  LORD     WHITELOCK.  377 

own  fashion,"  the  Lord  Keeper  replied  "  that  he  was 
ready  to  deliver  up  the  Seal  to  them,  and  that  it  was  there 
ready  if  they  pleased  to  take  it  from  him." 

A  doughty  Colonel,  greatly  nettled  at  this  speech,  ex- 
claimed,— "  It  is  not  well  that  at  such  a  time  as  this  so 
great  a  charge  as  the  Great  Seal  should  be  intrusted  to  a 
lawyer.  More  seemingly  were  it  that  an  office  of  such 
power  and  profit  should  be  given  to  those  who  have  en- 
countered the  wars  and  adventured  their  lives  for  the 
service  of  the  Commonwealth  than  to  such  as  skulk  from 
dangers  and  covet  fees." — Lord  Keeper.  "  The  gentleman 
who  so  much  disparages  lawyers  would  do  well  to  call  in 
mind  the  services  performed  by  Ireton,  Jones,  Reynolds, 
and  others  of  the  profession  during  the  war.  As  for  my- 
self, I  have  been  exposed  to  such  perils  in  the  service  of 
the  state,  particularly  in  my  embassy  to  Sweden,  as  would 
have  appalled  this  much-speaking  Colonel.  I  desire,  there- 
fore,, that  such  reproachful  language  may  be'  forborne." 
Hereupon  General  Fleetwood  and  others  justified  the 
Lord  Keeper  and  his  profession,  and  the  Colonel  was  put 
to  silence. 

Through  the  agency  of  Whitelock,  the  Restoration  had 
very  nearly  at  this  time  been  brought  about  in  a  manner 
very  different  from  that  which  actually  happened,  and  a 
very  different  turn  might  have  been  given  to  the  subse- 
quent history  of  the  constitution  and  of  the  country. 
Perceiving  that  men  openly  contrasted  the  anarchy  and 
confusion  now  existing  with  the  tranquillity  formerly  en- 
joyed under  the  monarchy,  and  were  not  backward  in  the 
expression  of  their  wishes  for  the  restoration  of  the 
ancient  line  of  their  princes, — despairing  of  being  able  to 
devise  any  measures  effectually  to  stern  the  prevailing 
current  of  public  opinion, — strongly  suspecting  the  inten- 
tions of  Monk,  who  was  now  mysteriously  advancing  with 
his  army  from  Scotland, — and  eager  to  anticipate  him, — 
the  Lord  Keeper  formed  the  project  of  being  the  first  to 
declare  for  Charles,  and  of  carrying  over  the  Great  Seal 
to  him  at  Breda.  But  this  bauble  by  itself  would  be  of 
little  value ;  and  he  disclosed  his  plan  to  several  others, 
who  advised  him  to  try  to  obtain  the  concurrence  of 
Fleetwood,  the  Major  General  of  the  army,  who  was  of  a 
more  moderate  and  flexible  disposition  than  Lambert, 
the  Commander-in-Chief.  Finding  the  Major  General 


378    CHANCELLORS  OF  COMMONWEALTH,    [1659. 

alone,  he  said  "  he  was  come  to  discourse  with  him  freely 
about  their  present  condition,  and  what  was  fit  to  be 
done  in  such  an  exigency  as  they  were  brought  to ;  that 
it  was  more  than  evident  that  it  was  Monk's  design  to 
bring  in  the  King,  and  that  without  any  terms  for  those 
of  the  parliamentary  party ;  whereby  all  their  lives  and 
fortunes  would  be  at  his  and  their  enemies'  mercy,  they 
being  sufficiently  enraged  against  them,  and  in  great  need 
of  repairing  their  broken  fortunes  ;  that  all  the  incensed 
Lords  and  secluded  members  were  active  in  the  design,  so 
that  the  restoration  of  the  King  was  unavoidable.  And, 
seeing  it  must  be,  it  was  more  prudence  for  Fleetwood 
and  his  friends  to  be  the  instruments  of  it  than  to  leave  it 
to  Monk  ;  that  thereby  he  might  make  terms  with  the  King 
for  the  preservation  of  himself  and  his  friends,  and,  in 
some  measure,  of  that  course  wherein  they  had  been  en- 
gaged ;  but  that,  if  it  were  left  to  Monk,  they  and  all  they 
had  achieved  would  be  exposed  to  utter  ruin."  ] 

Fleetwood  was  much  struck  by  this  reasoning,  and 
agreed  to  join  in  any  feasible  plan  that  could  be  proposed 
for  opening  a  communication  with  the  King.  Whitelock 
proposed  that  he  should  muster  his  troops,  take  posses- 
sion of  the  Tower,  induce  the  Lord  Mayor  and  citizens 
of  London  to  join  with  him  in  calling  a  free  parliament, 
and  send  a  messenger  forthwith  to  Breda  to  make  terms 
with  the  King, — offering  himself  to  go  upon  that  employ- 
ment, or  to  accompany  him  to  the  Tower.  After  a  little 
more  discourse,  Fleetwood  became  quite  delighted  with 
the  enterprise  ;  but,  dispensing  with  the  Lord  Keeper's 
aid  in  the  military  part  of  it,  desired  him  to  get  ready 
forthwith  for  the  journey  to  Breda,  saying,  "that  he  him- 
self would  sit  down  to  prepare  his  instructions,  so  that  he 
might  be  on  the  road  that  evening,  or  at  least  early  next 
morning." 

But  just  as  the  conference  was  about  to  finish,  it  was 
announced  that  Vane,  Desborough,  and  Berry  desired  to 
see  the  General,  and  he  requested  Whitelock  to  withdraw, 
and  stay  a  little  for  him, — which  he  did  with  heaviness  of 
heart,  knowing  the  irresolution  of  his  friend.  In  a  quarter 
of  an  hour  Fleetwood  came  out,  and  with  much  emotion 
said,  "  I  can  not  do  it !  I  can  not  do  it !  "  and  being  asked 
the  reason  for  this  sudden  change,  he  answered,  "  These 
1  Mem.  690.  Life  of  Whit.  358. 


1659.]  LORD     WHITELOCK.  379 

gentlemen  have  put  me  in  mind,  and  it  is  very  true,  that 
I  am  engaged  to  do  no  such  thing  without  the  consent  of 
Lord  Lambert."  Whitelock  urged  that  Lambert  was 
then  absent  from  London,  and  that  the  affair  admitted  no 
delay  ;  but  Fleetwood,  repeating  that  "  he  could  not  do 
it  without  him,"  he  retired,  making  this  observation, 
"  You  will  ruin  yourself  and  your  friends."  ' 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  Whitelock,  as  the  ac- 
credited agent  of  Fleetwood,  would  have  been  most 
cordially  received  by  Charles,  who  was  still  very  doubtful 
as  to  the  intentions  of  Monk;  and  perhaps  an  arrange- 
ment might  have  been  made,  providing  guarantees  for 
religion  and  liberty,  which  would  have  rescued  the  nation 
from. the  misgovernment  of  the  two  succeeding  reigns,  and 
saved  the  Stuart  dynasty. 

Several  of  Whitelock's  private  friends  strongly  urged 
him  for  his  own  sake,  to  fly  with  the  Great  Seal  to  Breda  ; 
but,  dreading  lest  representing  no  party  in  the  state,  he 
should  meet  with  a  repulse,  he  declined  the  advice, 
although  he  afterwards  found  that  Ingoldsby,  who  had 
signed  the  warrant  for  the  execution  of  Charles  I.  by  a 
tender  of  his  service  about  this  time,  experienced  indem- 
nity and  favor. 

As  a  last  desperate  effort  to  continue  the  republican 
government,  Lord  Whitelock  put  the  Great  Seal  to  writs 
of  summons  for  the  election  of  a  new  parliament,  but  the 
Lord  Mayor  and  Sheriffs  of  Middlesex  refused  to  act 
upon  them  ;  no  respect  was  paid  to  them  in  any  quarter, 
and,  to  the  astonishment  and  amusement  of  mankind,  the 
"  Rump  "  was  once  more  restored.  A  mob,  consisting 
chiefly  of  royalists,  aided  'by  some  soldiers,  assembled  in 
Lincoln's  Inn  Fields,  and  proceeding  to  the  Rolls,  in 
Chancery  Lane,  saluted  Lenthal  as  the  Speaker  of  the 
Long  Parliament,  not  yet  legally  dissolved,  and  required 
that  he  should  go  and  take  his  seat  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons to  assist  in  recalling  the  King.  Fleetwood,  after 
some  days  spent  in  weeping,  said,  "the  Lord  had  spit  in 
his  face,"  fell  on  his  knees  before  the  Speaker,  and  sur- 
rendered his  commission.  The  members,  with  Lenthal  at 
their  head,  resumed  the  possession  of  the  House  and  of 
the  government. 

This  was  a  very  alarming  state  of  affairs  for  the  Lord 

1  Mem.  691. 


380     CHANCELLORS  OF  COMMONWEALTH.  [1659. 

Keeper,  who,  if  he  had  not  actively  assisted  in  their  last 
expulsion,  had  immediately  assented  to  it,  had  accepted  a 
seat  in  "  the  Committee  of  Safety,"  and  acted  as  their 
chief  legal  adviser.  He  was  told  of  many  threatening  ex- 
pressions uttered  against  him,  and  that  one  Scot,  a  person 
of  considerable  influence,  with  whom  he  had  had  a  pri- 
vate quarrel  at  an  election,  had  publicly  declared,  "  that 
the  Lord  Keeper  ought  to  be  hanged,  with  the  Great  Seal 
about  his  neck."  l 

He  was  afraid,  therefore,  to  take  his  place  in  the  House, 
as  he  would  have  been  inclined  to  do, — his  principle  being 
to  conform  to  every  political  change  as  quickly  as  possi- 
ble. Having  been  summoned  to  attend,  he  went  privately 
to  the  Speaker,  and  stated  his  apprehensions  that  if  he 
were  to  appear  in  his  place  he  might  be  called  in  question 
for  his  recent  conduct,  and  committed  to  prison.  Lenthal 
in  a  friendly  manner  advised  him  to  attend,  saying,  that 
it  would  be  taken  as  an  owning  of  their  authority  if  he  sat 
with  them.  He  accordingly  summoned  up  resolution  to 
enter  the  House,  but  he  was  very  ill  received  ;  many  of 
his  most  familiar  acquaintances  looked  cool  and  reserved, 
and  one  or  two  particular  friends,  who  still  stuck  by  him, 
gave  him  a  hint  not  to  be  present  on  the  day  that  was  ap- 
pointed to  consider  of  the  absent  members. 

The  just  result  of  all  his  political  manoeuvring  was,  that 
he  found  himself  universally  despised,  and  that  he  was 
equally  afraid  for  his  personal  safety  which  ever  side  should 
triumph.  Under  these  melancholy  circumstances  his 
heart  entirely  failed  him,  and  he  resolved  at  once  and  for 
ever  to  withdraw  from  public  life.  He  therefore  locked 
the  Great  Seal  in  a  box,  and  ordered  his  wife  to  carry  it  to 
the  Speaker,  and  to  deliver  him  the  key  of  it.  He  then 
went  privately  into  the  country,  and  remained  in  strict 
concealment  at  the  house  of  a  friend.  An  order  was 
made  that  he  should  attend  in  his  place,  but  he  was  not 
further  molested.2 

After  the  Restoration,  he  at  last  found  himself  safe, 
when  the  bill  of  indemnity  had  passed.  From  his  precau- 
tion in  declining  to  act  in  the  High  Court  of  Justice,  he 

1  Scot  was  himself  afterwards  hanged  as  a  regicide. 

2  Sir   Harry  Vane,  who  obeyed  a  similar  order,  was   expelled  the    House, 
and  exiled  to  his  castle  of  Raby,  for  having  taken  part  with  the  Council  of 
State  on  the  second  expulsion  of  the  Rump. 


1659-]  LORD     WHITELOCK.  381 

was  not  included  in  the  exception  leveled  at  the  King's 
Judges. 

He  never  again  appeared  on  the  political  stage, — and 
here  we  must  take  leave  of  him.  It  is  said  that  after  the 
Restoration  he  came  to  Court  and  asked  pardon  of  the 
King  for  "  all  that  he  had  transacted  against  him," — per- 
haps not  without  hopes  of  once  more  recovering  the 
Great  Seal  ;  but  Charles  bade  him  "  Go  live  quietly  in  the 
country,  and  take  care  of  his  wife  and  one-and-thirty 
children."' 

He  retired  to  Chilton  Park,  in  the  county  of  Wilts. 
Here  he  lived  quietly,  devoting  himself  to  study  and 
country  amusements  till  1675,  when  he  died  in  his  seven- 
tieth year.  His  remains  were  interred  at  Fawley,  near 
Marlow,  in  Buckinghamshire,  where  he  had  constructed  a 
burying  place  for  his  family. 

In  his  own  time  he  was  reckoned  the  competitor  of  Lord 
Clarendon  for  fame  as  well  as  for  power,  and  as  he  was 
at  the  head  of  the  law  of  England  for  twelve  years,  and 
mixed  up  with  some  of  the  most  striking  events  during  the 
most  important  period  in  our  annals,  his  merits  and  de- 
fects must  continue  to  be  interesting  to  all  who  would 
become  familiar  with  the  great  lawyers  and  statesmen  of 
England.  His  character  is  not  unfairly  drawn  by  Wood: 
— "  He  was  an  observing  person  through  all  changes, 
being  guided  more  by  policy  than  conscience.  He  was 
an  excellent  common  lawyer,  as  well  read  in  books  as  men, 
well  versed  in  the  oriental  languages,  and  much  beloved 
by  Selden  and  the  virtuosi  of  his  time."2  We  must  not, 
from  the  disgust  excited  by  his  uniform  submission  to 
dominant  power,  forget  that  he  had  valuable  qualities, 
and  that  he  not  only  resisted  usurpation  as  far  as  he 

1  This  was  a  considerable  exaggeration  ;  for  in  a  "  Dedication  to  the 
King"  of  a  legal  work,  the  fruit  of  his  retirement,  he  says  that  the  royal 
clemency  had  bestowed  upon  him  his  small  fortune,  liberty,  and  life,  and  re- 
stored him  to  "  a  wife  and  SIXTEEN  children — a  number  exceeded  by  legal 
dignitaries  of  the  present  day. 

8  Wood's  Ath..Ox.     Selden's  last  letter  was  addressed  to  him  : — 

"  I  am  a  most  humble  suitor  to  your  Lordship,  that  you  would  be  pleased 
that  I  might  have  your  presence  for  a  little  time  to-morrow  or  next  day.  This 
wearies  the  most  weak  hand  of 

"  Your  Lordship's  most  humble  Servant, 

"  J.  SELDEN." 

Whitelock,  though  then  immersed  in  public  business,  went  to  his  dying 
friend,  assisted  him  in  making  his  will  and  consented  to  become  one  of  his 
executors. 


382     CHANCELLORS  OF  COMMONWEALTH.  [1660. 

safely  could  during  the  struggle,  but  that  he  continued  to 
strive  to  mitigate  its  evils.  In  many  instances  he  success- 
fully contended  for  the  extension  of  clemency  towards 
state  offenders,  and  for  protection  to  oppressed  com- 
munities. He  was  ever  an  advocate  of  a  tolerant  and  hu- 
mane administration  of  the  executive  authority,  and  he 
has  a  right  to  a  considerable  share  of  the  praise  justly  ap- 
propriated to  those  from  whose  mild  disposition  the  Eng- 
lish revolution  in  the  seventeeth  century  contrasts  so 
favorably  with  the  French  Revolution,  a  century  and  a 
half  later,  when  knowledge  and  civilization  were  supposed 
to  have  made  such  progress  in  Europe.  He  ought,  above 
all,  to  be  honored  as  a  most  zealous  and  enlightened  law 
reformer. 

In  his  character  and  conduct  he  has  often  been  com- 
pared to  Clarendon  ;  but  he  bears  a  much  closer  resem- 
blance to  the  Lord  Keeper  who  lingered  so  long  in  the 
parliament  at  Westminster,  and  then  joined  the  King 
with  the  Great  Seal  at  York.  Both  Whitelock  and  Little- 
ton were  inclined  to  do  good  when  it  was  consistent  with 
their  interest ;  both  were  irresolute  and  dastardly,  and 
they  both  acted  from  time  to  time  with  such  duplicity  as 
to  induce  a  suspicion  that  their  want  of  courage  was  want 
of  principle. 

As  a  contributor  to  English  history,  Whitelock  does 
not  enjoy  the  full  measure  of  credit  which  he  deserves. 
For  his  "  Memorials  from  the  Accession  of  Charles  I.  till 
the  Restoration  of  Charles  II.,"  he  justly  takes  as  a 
motto, 

"  Quaeque  ipse  miserrima  vidi. 

Et  quorum  pars  magna  fui ;" 

and  his  work  has  the  unspeakable  advantage  of  having 
been  composed  almost  from  day  to  day,  while  there  dwelt 
on  his  mind  a  lively  and  accurate  impression  of  the  events 
which  he  relates ;  whereas  the  more  popular  "  History  of 
the  Rebellion,"  by  Clarendon  was  written  from  a  faded 
recollection,  and,  besides  purposed  suppressions  and  mis- 
representations, abounds  with  mistakes  of  dates  and  facts 
unconsciously  introduced.  The  "  Memorialist "  is  uni- 
formly fair  and  candid :  and  although  the  form  of  a  Diary, 
which  he  generally  adopts,  makes  it  rather  a  book  of 
reference  than  for  continuous  perusal,  we  find  in  it  pas- 


i66o.]  WIDDRINGTON,  TERRYLL,  FOUNTAIN.  383 

sages  of  reasoning  and  eloquence,  showing  that  the  author 
was  qualified  to  reach  a  high  degree  of  literary  excellence. 

He  compiled  also  "An  Abridgment  of  the  History  of 
England  down  to  the  end  of  the  Reign  of  James  I. ;"  and 
besides  many  speeches,  and  several  forgotten  Law  treatises 
which  he  published  in  his  lifetime,  there  are,  in  the  British 
Museum,  six  MS.  volumes  compiled  by  him  on  the  Law 
of  Elections,  and  other  subjects.1 

James,  his  eldest  son,  was  knighted  by  Oliver,  gained 
distinction  as  a  Colonel  in  the  parliamentary  army,  and 
represented  the  county  of  Oxford  in  parliament.  William, 
his  second  son,  rose  to  great  eminence  at  the  bar,  and 
was  knighted  by  Charles  II.  I  do  not  find  any  thing 
more  respecting  his  descendants. 

And  now  I  must  proceed  to  relate  the  last  days  of  the 
Great  Seal  of  the  parliament.  Lady  Whitelock  having 
carried  it  to  Lenthal,  according  to  the  instructions  she 
had. received,  he  presented  it  to  the  House,  who  imme- 
diately made  an  order  "  that  it  be  delivered  to  the  Speaker, 
as  Keeper,  and  remain  in  his  custody  till  the  House  should 
further  order."2 

A  committee  was  named  to  consider  of  fit  persons  to 
be  intrusted  with  the  custody  of  the  Great  Seal.  They 
made  a  report  in  favor  of  Sir  THOMAS  WlDDRlNGTON  and 
Sergeants  TERRYLL  and  FOUNTAIN,  who  were  appointed 
accordingly ;  and  the  Great  Seal  was  delivered  to  them, 
with  much  solemnity,  by  the  Speaker  in  the  name  of  the 
parliament.3 

The  royal  cause  having  made  such  progress  in  public 
opinion,  we  may  wonder  that  men  were  not  selected 
whose  principles  were  more  favorable  to  it ;  but  we  must 
remember  that  the  excluded  members  had  not  yet  been 
re-admitted  ;  that  a  great  majority  of  the  members  now 
sitting  were  republicans  in  their  hearts  ;  that  Monk  still 

1  Ayscough's  Cat.  4749-4754. 

*  Mem.  693.  At  the  same  time,  Lady  Whitelock,  from  apprehension  for 
her  husband's  safety,  burnt  many  of  his  papers,  which  he  considered  a  great 
loss  to  the  history  of  these  times. 

3  It  would  appear  that  they  had  considerably  altered  their  tone,  and  were 
now  professed  royalists.  Fountain  was  obnoxious  to  some  as  a  great  law  re- 
former.— Ludlow,  343.  At  the  same  time  it  was  ordained  that  Newdigate 
should  be  Chief  Justice  ;  Hill  and  Nicholas,  Judges  of  the  Upper  Bench ; 
St.  John,  Chief  Justice  ;  Wyndham  and  Archer,  Judges  of  the  Common 
Pleas ;  Wilde,  Chief  Baron  ;  Thorpe  and  Parker,  Barons  of  the  Exchequer ; 
— who  had  all  been  republicans. — Mem.  693. 


384      CHANCELLORS  OF  COMMONWEALTH.  [1660. 

found  it  convenient  to  dissemble  ;  and  that  a  considerable 
time  elapsed  before  any  one  ventured  openly  to  propose 
the  King's  recall.1 

No  judicial  business  was  done  in  Hilary  or  Easter  terms, 
and  the  functions  of  the  new  Lords  Commissioners  of  the 
Great  Seal  were  chiefly  ministerial, — the  parliament  hav- 
ing ordered  "  that  the  Speaker,  in  execution  of  their  votes, 
should  sign  a  doquet  for  patents  and  other  instruments  to 
pass  the  Great  Seal,  and  that  the  Lords  Commissioners 
do  pass  such  patents  and  instruments  under  the  Great 
Seal,  accordingly."11 

In  obedience  to  an  order  they  received,  they  sealed  a 
commission  authorizing  the  Master  of  the  Rolls  and  cer- 
tain Judges  to  hear  causes  in  Chancery;  but  the  adminis- 
tration of  justice  in  all  the  Courts  was  suspended  till 
Trinity  term  following,  when  the  King  was  again  on  the 
throne. 

It  was  only  on  the  I3th  of  March  that  the  resolution 
passed  doing  away  with  the  declaration  hitherto  required 
from  all  members  and  public  functionaries,  to  "  be  faithful 
to  the  Commonwealth  as  now  established,  without  a  King 
or  House  of  Lords." 

Three  days  after,  the  ordinance  passed  for  dissolving 
the  Long  Parliament,  which,  being  carried  by  the  sole  au- 
thority of  the  Commons,  the  more  scrupulous  pronounced 
a  nullity,  for  want  of  the  assent  of  the  King  and  the 
Lords ;  and,  in  strict  theory,  there  is  certainly  great  dif- 
ficulty in  saying  when  the  existence  of  this  famous  legis- 
lature, which  had  continued  twenty  years,  legally  ter 
minated,  the  Convention  Parliament  that  ratified  its  dis- 
solution being  itself  illegal,  and  incapable  of  giving  itself 
power  by  its  own  act. 

However,  the  Lords  Commissioners  Widdrington, 
Terryll,  and  Fountain  immediately  issued  under  the  Great 
Seal,  a  proclamation  and  writs,  in  name  of  "  the  Keepers  of 
the  Liberties  of  England,"  for  a  new  election  of  representa- 
tives of  the  people,  to  meet  on  the  25th  of  April, — not 

1  Even  after  the  re-admission  of  the  excluded  members,  although  there 
was  a  majority  for  royalty,  a  resolution  was  passed  that  the  Westminster  Con- 
fession of  Faith,  framed  by  the  Presbyterian  divines,  should  be  the  basis  of 
the  national  religion  ;  and  Baxter  acted  as  chaplain  to  the  House  of  Com- 
mons down  to  the  King's  return,  when  he  was  made  a  royal  chaplain. 

*  Com.  Jour.  vii.  814. 


~. 


GREAT   SEAL   OF   RICHARD    CROMWELL. 


1649.]  EARL    OF    MANCHESTER.  385 

sending  any  summonses  to  Peers,  nor  taking  any 
measures  for  having  an  Upper  House. 

On  the  day  appointed  both  Houses  met,  without  the 
appearance  of  royalty,  and  the  Lords  without  even  the 
form  of  a  summons.  None  of  Cromwell's  Peers  claimed 
to  sit  in  the  Upper  House,  and  it  was,  in  the  first  instance, 
composed  of  the  Presbyterian  Lords  who  sat  there  in  the 
year  1648.  They  re-elected  their  old  Speaker,  the  Earl 
of  Manchester,  who  had  long  been  a  moderate  royalist, 
but  was  still  very  hostile  to  Episcopacy  as  well  as  arbi- 
trary government.  In  a  few  days  the  old  cavalier  Peers 
joined,  asserting  their  right  as  conciliarii  nati,  and  they 
formed  a  great  majority,  although,  to  avoid  cavil,  the 
Peers  who  sat  in  the  King's  parliament  at  Oxford,  as  well 
as  those  whose  patents  bore  date  after  the  commencement 
of  the  civil  war,  abstained  for  the  present  from  demanding 
admission.  All  concurred  in  continuing  the  Earl  of  Man- 
chester as  Speaker,  out  of  respect  to  his  personal  character 
and  his  great  parliamentary  experience. 

The  Lords,  with  a  view  to  their  authority  and  inde- 
pendence, were  very  uneasy  at  the  thought  of  the  Great 
Seal  being  still  held  exclusively  under  a  vote  of  the  House 
of  Commons  by  the  Commissioners  Widdrington,  Terryll, 
and  Fountain  ;  and  their  first  act  was  to  appoint  their 
Speaker,  the  Earl  of  Manchester,  a  joint  Keeper.  Mes- 
sengers were  sent  down  to  the  Commons,  who  (to  the 
great  horror  of  some  old  republicans  returned  to  the  Con- 
vention) were  admitted,  and  said,  "Mr.  Speaker,  we  are 
commanded  by  the  Lords  to  wait  upon  you  with  a  vote 
of  the  Lords,  whereby  they  have  nominated  and  ap- 
pointed the  Earl  of  Manchester  to  be  one  of  the  Commis- 
sioners for  the  Great  Seal  of  England,  and  their  desire 
is  that  the  House  of  Commons  will  concur  with  them 
therein." 

After  several  days  taken  for  deliberation,  a  resolution 
was  passed  "  that  this  House  doth  agree  with  the  Lords 
that  the  Earl  of  Manchester,  Speaker  of  the  House  of 
Peers,  be,  and  he  is  hereby  nominated  and  appointed,  one 
of  the  Commissioners  of  the  Great  Seal,  and  added  to 
those  who  have  the  present  custody  thereof  till  further 
order."  The  King's  letter,  by  Sir  John  Grenville,.  had  been 
received,  and  it  was  resolved  that  all  proceedings  under 
the  Great  Seal  should  henceforth  run  in  the  King's  name ; 
in. — 25  • 


386     CHANCELLORS  OF  COMMONWEALTH.  [1660. 

but  a  dread  perplexity  arose  from  the  consideration  that 
the  Great  Seal  now  in  use,  instead  of  having  upon  it 
the  name  of  CHARLES  II.,  with  his  titles  "  of  'Great 
Britain,  France,  and  Ireland,  King,  Defender  of  the 
Faith,"  &c.,  represented  the  House  of  Commons  with  the 
Speaker  in  the  chair,  and  bore  the  inscription,  "The  Great 
Seal  of  England,  1651,  in  the  third  year  of  freedom,  by 
God's  blessing  restored."  A  select  committee  being  ap- 
pointed to  consider  this  knotty  affair,  submitted  to  the 
House  '''whether  for  the  carrying  on  and  present  expe- 
diting of  the  justice  of  the  kingdom,  the  House  shall  think 
fit  that  the  Great  Seal  now  in  the  possession  of  the  Earl  of 
Manchester  and  the  other  Commissioners  be  made  use  of 
until  further  order?"  The  House  agreed  in  this  recom- 
mendation, and  sent  a  message  to  pray  the  concurrence 
of  the  Lords.  But  their  Lordships  were  very  much 
shocked  by  the  notion  of  the  authoritative  use  of  the  re- 
publican Seal,  and,  by  way  of  a  gentle  refusal,  said  "  they 
would  return  an  answer  by  messengers  of  their  own."  No 
answer  coming  down,  the  Commons  asked  and  obtained  a 
conference  on  the  subject,  when  they  urged  that  there 
were  many  inconveniences  the  kingdom  suffered  for  want 
of  the  use  of  the  Great  Seal, — that  the  administration  of 
justice  was  suspended,  and  all  writs,  fines  and  assurances 
were  stopped, — that  three  terms  had  been  lost  already, 
and  there  was  danger  of  having  no  assizes, — that  orders 
for  the  collection  of  the  revenue  were  not  obeyed,  and  for 
want  of  pay  the  army  would  be  obliged  to  live  at  free 
quarters, — that  while  the  Great  Seal  was  not  used,  the 
House  of  Commons  could  not  fill  up  their  numbers, — 
that  preparations  could  not  be  made  for  the  King's  re- 
ception, and  this  punctilious  regard  for  his  image  might 
be  fatal  to  his  authority, — that  the  representations  and  in- 
scriptions on  Seals  were  immaterial  as  to  their  efficacy, — 
and  that  in  former  times  Great  Seals  had  been  used  with- 
out the  name  or  insignia  of  the  reigning  sovereign,  as 
King  James  used  for  some  time  the  Seal  of  Queen  Eliza- 
beth, and  Charles  I.  that  of  King  James. 

Still  the  Lords  would  not  come  to  a  formal  vote  of  con- 
currence, but  they  connived  at  the  use  of  the  republican 
Seal  till  Charles  had  actually  set  foot  on  English  ground, 
and,  amidst  the  enthusiastic  plaudits  of  his  subjects,  was 
on  his  journey  from  Dover  to  London  to  mount  the  thron~. 


i66o.]  SIR    EDWARD    HYDE.  387 

Being  then  accompanied  by  Sir  EDWARD  HYDE,  whom 
he  had  constituted  his  Chancellor  while  in  exile,  and  to 
whom  he  had  delivered  a  Great  Seal  which  he  had  caused 
to  be  made,  bearing  his  name,  style,  and  arms,  the  Com- 
monwealth Seal  was  no  more  wanted,  and  it  was  dealt 
with  as  the  royal  Great  Seal  had  been  in  the  year  1646, 
after  the  surrender  of  Oxford.  On  the  28th  of  May,  the 
Commons  resolved  "  that  the  Great  Seal  in  the  custody 
of  Sir  Thomas  Widdrington,  and  the  rest  of  the  late 
Commissioners  of  the  Great  Seal,  be  brought  into  this 
House  this  forenoon,  to  be  here  defaced." 

Accordingly,  it  was  forthwith  delivered  to  Sir  Har- 
bottle  Grimston,  the  Speaker.  "  Being  laid  upon  the 
clerk's  table,  a  smith  was  sent  for,  who  broke  it  in  pieces, 
while  the  House  was  sitting,"  and  the  pieces  were  de- 
livered to  the  Lords  Commissioners  for  their  fees.1  This 
was  the  final  end  of  the  Great  Seal  of  the  Commonwealth, 
— which  the  King  himself,  in  the  treaty  at  Newport,  had 
agreed  to  acknowledge, — and  under  which  justice  had 
long  been  administered, — commissions  had  been  granted 
to  victorious  generals  and  admirals, — and  treaties,  dictated 
by  England,  had  been  entered  into  with  the  most  powerful 
nations  in  Europe. 

The  following  day  the  two  Houses  of  Parliament  threw 
themselves  on  their  knees  before  the  King  at  Whitehall, 
and  Lord  Chancellor  Hyde  was  seen  carrying  the  true 
Great  Seal  before  him,  in  its  red  velvet  purse  adorned 
with  a  representation  of  a  royal  crown,  and  all  the  her- 
aldic bearings  of  an  English  monarch. 


I  must  now  take  a  short  review  of  the  changes  in  the 
frame  of  the  law,  and  the  administration  of  justice  during 
the  Commonwealth  and  the  Protectorate.  There  were 
then  very  wild  notions  afloat  respecting  law  reform.  A 
party  was  for  utterly  abolishing  the  whole  of  the  com- 
mon and  statute  law  of  England,  and  substituting  the 
Mosaic  law  in  its  place.  A  very  strong  prejudice  existed 
against  lawyers,  who  were  quaintly  denounced  as  "  a 
purse-milking  generation,"  and  were  accused  of  always 
"bleeding  their  clients  in  the  purse  vein."  Cromwell  him- 

1  Com.  Jour. 


388          CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    77 

self  was  by  no  means  above  such  absurd  and  vulgar  notions, 
and  was  more  inclined  on  those  subjects,  to  listen  to  such 
a  fanatical  buffoon  as  Hugh  Peters  than  to  eminent  jurists 
like  Whitelock  or  Hale.  It  is  because  his  preposterous 
schemes  for  simple  and  cheap  law  were  properly  opposed 
as  impracticable  and  mischievous,  that  he  complained  so 
bitterly  of  being  worsted  by  "the  sons  of  Zeruiah."  He 
would  not,  like  Napoleon  in  a  subsequent  age,  be  con- 
tented with  the  glory  to  be  gained  by  collecting,  system- 
atizing, and  improving  existing  laws  ; — of  framing  a  code 
adapted  to  the  circumstances  and  habits  of  a  civilized 
nation  ; — but  he  thought  that  the  controverted  rights  of 
property  were  to  be  decided  by  an  English  Judge  in 
Westminster  Hall  like  disputes  in  an  Eastern  bazar  by  the 
Kadi.  "  We  can  not  mention  the  reform  of  the  law," 
said  he,  "  but  the  lawyers  presently  cry  out,  You  design  to 
destroy  property ;  whereas,  the  law,  as  it  is  now  constituted, 
serves  only  to  maintain  the  lawyers,  and  to  encourage  the 
rich  to  oppress  the  poor.  Coke,  late  solicitor  for  the 
people  of  England,  at  the  trial  of  Charles  Stuart,  when  I 
sent  him,  with  full  powers  as  Chief  Justice  to  Ireland,  de- 
termined more  causes  in  a  week  than  all  Westminster 
Hall  in  a  year.  The  English  people  will  take  Ireland  for 
a  precedent,  and  when  they  see  at  how  easy  and  cheap  a 
rate  property  is  there  preserved,  they  will  never  permit 
themselves  to  be  so  cheated  and  abused  as  now  they 
are."  ' 

But  notwithstanding  these  crude  notions,  there  were 
men  in  England  in  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century 

1  Ludlow's  Memoirs,  123.  Even  General  Ludlow  himself,  though  freer 
from  prejudice  and  with  a  more  cultivated  mind  than  any  other  officer  in  the 
service  of  the  parliament — from  keeping  bad  company  had  imbibed  these  no- 
tions. "  In  the  meantime,"  says  he,  "  the  reformation  of  the  law  went  on  but 
slowly,  it  being  the  interest  of  the  lawyers  to  preserve  the  lives,  liberties  and 
estates  of  the  whole  nation  in  their  own  hands."  So  that  upon  the  debate  of 
"  registering  deeds  in  each  county,  for  want  of  which  within  a  certain  time 
after  the  sale,  such  sales  shall  be  void,  and  being  so  registered,  that  land 
should  not  be  subject  to  any  incumbrance  ;"  this  word  "  incumbrance,"  was  so 
managed  by  the  lawyers  that  it  took  up  three  months'  time  before  it  could  be 
ascertained  by  the  committee. — Ludlow,  165.  I  make  no  doubt  that,  very 
properly,  there  was  much  deliberation  on  such  a  difficult  subject ;  but  all  the 
liberal,  enlightened,  and  influential  lawyers,  then  as  now,  were  much  before 
the  majority  of  the  legislature  in  disinterestedly  recommending  practicable 
and  beneficial  legal  reform;  and  this  very  Committee,  so  jeered  at,  strongly 
recommended  a  registry  of  deeds,  which,  being  still  withheld,  I  several  times, 
while  I  was  a  representative  of  the  people,  in  vain  strove  to  induce  the 
House  of  Commons  to  adopt. 


SIR    EDWAJtD    HYDE.  389 

as  liberal,  zealous,  and  enlightened  friends  of  law  reform, 
as  Romilly,  Mackintosh,  and  Brougham  in  the  beginning  of 
the  nineteenth, — men  who  were  for  adapting  ancient  laws 
and  institutions  to  the  altered  circumstances  of  society, — 
who  were  fully  competent  to  the  important  task  they  had 
undertaken, — and  who,  if  they  had  been  properly  appreci- 
ated and  supported,  would  have  conferred  unspeakable 
benefits  on  the  country,  anticipating  and  going  beyond 
most  of  the  salutary  amendments  which  have  been  adopted 
in  the  reigns  of  William  IV.  and  Queen  Victoria. 

They  began  their  labors,  as  we  have  seen,1  before  the 
dissolution  of  the  Long  Parliament.2  Their  efforts  were 
greatly  obstructed,  not  only  by  the  violent  end  of  the 
Long  Parliament,  but  still  more  by  the  folly  and  fanaticism 
of  Barebones'  Parliament,  and  by  the  abrupt  dissolution 
of  the  two  parliaments  which  followed ;  but  they  pro- 
cured the  actual  enactment  of  some  most  important  laws, 
and.the  projects  of  many  others  which  have  at  last  been 
adopted  in  the  present  age.  Ordinances  passed  "  for 
changing  tenure  in  chivalry  to  common  soccage,"  by 
which  a  great  portion  of  the  land  of  the  kingdom  was 
freed  from  wardship,  reliefs,  and  other  oppressive  bur- 
dens ; — "  for  abolishing  purveyance,"  a  perpetual  griev- 
ance to  all  classes  of  society ; — "  for  allowing  marriage  to  be 
entered  into  according  to  the  religious  persuasion  of  the 
parties,  or  as  a  civil  contract  at  their  option,"  the  model  of 
the  recent  Marriage  Act ; — "  for  the  registration  of  births, 
marriages,  and  deaths,"  which  we  have  likewise  copied  ; — 
"  for  paying  Judges  and  other  officers  by  salaries  instead 
of  fees,"  the  most  effectual  mode  of  preventing  corruption 
and  correcting  abuses  in  courts  of  justice  ; — and  "  for  hav- 
ing all  legal  records  in  the  language  of  the  country," — so 

1  Ante,  p.  353. 

8  The  chief  credit  of  these  reforms  is  undoubtedly  to  be  ascribed  to  Sir 
Matthew  Hale,  placed  at  the  head  of  the  non-parliamentary  committee.  I 
do  not  find  the  name  of  Coke,  the  eminent  lawyer,  who  acted  as  Solicitor  for 
the  people  of  England  on  the  trial  of  Charles  I.,  in  the  list  of  either  commit- 
tee, or  that  he  publicly  took  any  part  in  these  proceedings  ;  but  when  he 
came  to  the  scaffold,  he  took  credit  for  having  earnestly  supported  them,  and 
"  declared  that  he  had  used  the  utmost  of  his  endeavors  that  the  practice  of 
the  law  might  be  regulated,  and  that  the  public  justice  might  be  administered 
with  as  much  expedition  and  as  little  expense  as  possible.'' — Ludtow,  368. 
According  to  his  practice,  when  he  went  Chief  Justice  to  Ireland,  he  seems  to 
have  had  notions  of  jurisprudence  quite  unsuited  to  a  nation  that  has  reached 
wealth  and  civility. 


390          CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    II. 

that  a  knowledge  of  the  laws  might  be  communicated  to 
those  who  were  to  obey  them.1 

I  must  likewise  point  out  the  parliamentary  reform 
introduced  by  "the  Instrument  of  Government," — under 
which  the  rotten  boroughs  were  disfranchised,  and  the 
counties  and  great  towns  in  England,  Scotland,  and  Ire- 
land chose  representatives  according  to  population  and 
property, — the  qualification  of  'the  electors  being  well 
framed  to  secure  independent  constituencies, — which 
Clarendon  is  obliged  to  confess  "  was  generally  looked 
upon  as  an  alteration  fit  to  be  more  warrantably  made 
and  in  better  times."2  Most  of  these  improvements  were 
lost  for  many  years  by  the  Restoration,  except  the  aboli- 
tion of  the  military  tenures,  which  the  country  gentlemen 
would  not  again  submit  to,  and  ingeniously  contrived  to 
barter  against  an  excise  duty  to  be  paid  by  the  whole 
community,  instead  of  a  land  tax  to  be  paid  by  them- 
selves. I  have  now  to  mention  other  "  Ordinances,"  not 
passed,  but  of  which  draughts  are  extant :  "  For  taking 
away  exorbitant  fees  on  original  writs,  declarations,  and 
other  law  proceedings," — "  for  abolishing  fines  and  com- 
mon recoveries," — "  for  ascertaining  arbitrary  fines  on 
pescent  and  alienation  of  copyholds," — "  for  the  more 
easy  recovery  of  small  debts," — "for  the  preventing  of 
raudulent  contracts  and  conveyances," — "  for  making 

1  The  proposition  for  conducting  all  law  proceedings  in  English  was  most 
strenuously  opposed,  and  seemed  to  many  a  more  dangerous  innovation  than 
the  abolition  of  the  House  of  Lords  or  the  regal  office.  Whitelock,  in  intro- 
ducing it,  was  obliged  to  fortify  himself  with  the  example  of  Moses  and  a 
host  of  other  legislators  who  had  expounded  their  laws  in  the  vernacular 
tongue.  The  reporters,  who  delighted  in  the  Norman  French,  were  particu- 
larly obstreperous.  "  I  have  made  these  reports  speak  English."  says  Styles, 
in  his  preface,  "  not  that  I  believe  they  will  be  thereby  more  generally  useful, 
for  I  have  been  always  and  yet  am  of  opinion,  that  that  part  of  the  common 
law  which  is  in  English  hath  only  occasioned  the  making  of  unquiet  spirits 
contentiously  knowing,  and  more  apt  to  offend  others  than  to  defend  them- 
selves ;  but  I  have  done  it  in  obedience  to  authority,  and  to  stop  the  mouths 
of  such  of  this  English  age,  who,  though  they  be  confessedly  different  in 
their  minds  and  judgments  as  the  builders  of  Babel  were  in  their  language, 
yet  do  think  it  vain,  if  not  impious,  to  speak  or  understand  more  than  their 
own  mother  tongue."  So  Bulstrode,  in  the  preface  to  the  second  part  of  his 
Reports,  says,  "  that  he  had  many  years  since  perfected  the  work  in  French, 
in  which  language  he  had  desired  it  might  have  seen  the  light,  being  most 
proper  for  it,  and  most  convenient  for  the  professors  of  the  law."  But  the 
Restoration  brought  back  Norman  French  to  the  reports,  and  barbarous 
Latin  to  the  law  records,  which  continued  till  the  reign  of  George  II. 

-  Instrument  of  Government,  Arts.  xi.  xix.,  xxiv.     Hist.  Reb.  book  xiv. 
See  some  admirable  reasoning  on  this  subject,  Ludlow,  166. 


SIR    EDWARD    HYDE.  391 

debts  assignable," — and  "  for  establishing  a  register  for 
all  deeds  affecting  real  property."  Almost  the  whole  of 
the  other  Commonwealth  law  reforms  have  been  gradu- 
ally introduced  Into  our  system;  but  this  last  measure 
the  greatest  and  most  beneficial  of  all,  still  remains  to 
confer  glory  upon  the  honest  and  vigorous  administration 
that  shall  carry  it  through,  notwithstanding  the  interested 
clamors  of  country  attorneys  and  the  foolish  fears  of 
country  squires. 

The  common-law  bench  was  exceedingly  well  filled  dur- 
ing the  Commonwealth  and  Protectorate,  and  the  law  was 
ably  administered  through  them,  except  when  Cromwell 
was  occasionally  driven  to  supersede  them  by  his  Major- 
Generals  and  his  High  Courts  of  Justice.  From  the 
embarrassments  produced  by  the  political  functions  of  the 
Keepers  of  the  Great  Seal,  "Equity"  did  not  equally 
prosper  although  they  worked  hard, — sometimes  sitting 
from  five  in  the  morning  till  five  in  the  afternoon.  Yet 
orfe  common  cry  of  reproach  pursued  their  labors.  In  a 
petition  presented  to  parliament  for  regulating  the  Court 
of  Chancery,  the  prevailing  opinion  is  thus  expressed  ; 
"  as  long  as  the  bar  is  more  able  than  the  bench,  as  of  late 
it  liatJi  been,  the  business  of  the  Court  can  never  be  well 
dispatched." 

"  The  Chancery,"  says  a  contemporary  pamphlet,  "  is  a 
great  grievance,  one  of  the  greatest  in  the  nation.  It  is 
confidently  affirmed  by  knowing  gentlemen  of  worth,  that 
there  are  depending  in  that  Court  23,000  causes;  that 
some  of  them  have  been  depending  five,  some  ten,  some 
twenty,  some  thirty  years  and  more  ;  there  have  been 
spent  in  causes  many  hundred,  nay  thousands  of  pounds, 
to  the  undoing  of  many  families  ;  what  is  ordered  one  day 
is  contradicted  the  next,  so  as  in  some  cases  there  have 
been  500  orders." 

Lay  Peers,  like  Manchester,  Kent,  and  Gray,  must  have 
made  but  a  bad  figure  in  giving  their  opinions  on  nice  ques- 
tions of  conveyancing,  or  the  common  practice  of  the 
Court.  Whitelock,  sitting  by  himself,  would  have  proved 
a  good  Equity  Judge,  but  he  was  thwarted  and  embar- 
rassed by  his  colleagues.  "  The  burden  of  the  business," 
says  he,  "  lay  heavy  on  me,  being  ancient  [senior]  in 
commission,  and  my  brother  Keble  of  little  experience^ 
and  my  brother  Lisle  less,  but  very  opinionative.  The 


392         CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    II. 

business  of  the  Chancery  was  full  of  trouble  this  Michael- 
mas term,  and  no  man's  cause  came  to  a  determination, 
how  just  soever,  without  the  clamor  of  the  party  against 
whom  judgment  was  given ;  they  being  stark  blind  in 
their  own  causes,  and  resolved  not  to  be  convinced  by 
reason  or  law."1  When  Whitelock  had  resigned,  Lisle, 
who  was  grossly  ignorant  of  his  profession,  "  bore  himself 
very  highly  and  superciliously."  The  chief  weight  of  the 
Equity  business  lay  on  the  shoulders  of  Lenthal,  the  Mas- 
ter of  the  Rolls ;  but  his  time  was  much  occupied  with 
politics  till  after  the  dissolution  of  the  Long  Parliament, 
and  he  lost  character  greatly  in  the  year  1654, — when, 
after  boasting  that  "  he  would  sooner  suffer  himself  to  be 
hanged  over  the  Rolls  gate  than  submit  to  Cromwell's 
absurd  and  illegal  ordinance  to  regulate  the  Chancery," 
and  seeing  two  Lords  Commissioners  dismissed  for  denying 
its  validity, — he  agreed  to  acknowledge  it  sooner  than 
lose  his  place,4 — and  he  made  himself  the  laughing-stock 
of  the  bar,  by  trying,  along  with  Fiennes  and  Lisle,  to  put 
a  reasonable  construction  upon  nonsense. 

He  further  lowered  himself  by  his  childish  anxiety  to 
get  one  of  Cromwell's  peerages.  The  House  of  Lords 
being  to  be  restored,  it  was  then  thought  that,  being  an 
attendant  on  that  House  as  Master  of  the  Rolls,  he  could 
not  sit  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and  "  he  complained 
that  he,  who  had  been  for  some  years  the  first  man  of  the 
nation,  was  now  denied  to  be  a  member  of  either  House 
of  Parliament."  This  complaint  coming  to  the  ears  of 
Cromwell,  he  sent  him  a  writ — which  so  elevated  the 
poor  man,  that,  riding  in  his  coach  through  the  Strand 
and  meeting  a  friend  of  Sir  Arthur  Hazelrig,  who  had  re- 
ceived a  similar  writ,  and  was  disposed  to  treat  it  with 
contempt,  he  said  with  great  earnestness,  "  I  pray  write 
to  him  and  desire  him  by  no  means  to  omit  taking  his 
place  in  the  House  of  Lords,  and  assure  him  from  me 
that  all  that  do  so  shall,  themselves  and  their  heirs,  be  for 
ever  Peers  of  England." a  The  Lords  Commissioners, 

1   Mem.  548. 

5  "  Lenthal,  who  seemed  most  earnest  against  the  execution  of  this  ordi- 
nance, and  protested  that  he  would  be  hanged  at  the  Rolls  gate  before  he  would 
execute  it,  yet  now,  when  he  saw  Widdrington  and  me  put  out  of  our  places 
for  refusing  to  do  it,  he  wheeled  about,  and  was  as  forward  as  any  to  act  in 
the  execution  of  it,  and  thereby  restored  himself  to  favor." — Whit.  Mem.  627. 

3  Lud.  Mem.  227.     "  When  Cromwell  had  dissolved  this  parliament,  he 


EDWARD    HYDE.  393 

while  they  resisted  the  preposterous  plans  of  Cromwell 
and  his  officers  for  reforming  the  Court  of  Chancery,  from 
time  to  time  issued  very  sensible  orders  for  remedying 
abuses,  and  under  their  auspices  an  ordinance  was  passed 
in  1654,  abolishing  the  srxty  clerks,  introducing  many 
excellent  regulations  for  the  conducting  of  suits,  and 
enacting  a  table  of  fees  to  be  received  by  the  Master  of 
the  Rolls,  the  Masters  in  Chancery,  the  counsel,1  and  the 
solicitors. 

Although  no  such  monument  of  juridical  improvement 
as  the  "Code  Napoleon  "  was  transmitted  to  us  by  the 
English  Commonwealth,  we  ought  to  be  grateful  to  the 
enlightened  men  who  then  flourished,  for  they  accom- 
plished much,  and  a  comparison  between  them  and  the 
leaders  of  the  French  Revolution  would  turn  out  greatly 
to  the  advantage  of  our  countrymen,  who  not  only  showed 
a  much  greater  regard  for  justice,  humanity,  and  religion, 
but_a  sounder  knowledge  of  the  principles  of  government, 
— not  changing  merely  for  the  sake  of  change,  but  only 
where  they  thought  they  could  improve.  The  French 
copied  the  most  exceptionable  measures  of  the  English 
Revolution — such  as  the  execution  of  the  King,  the  com- 
mencement of  a  new  era  from  "  the  first  year  of  liberty," 
and  the  appointment  of  "  a  Committee  of  Public  Safety," 
which  di-sposed,  in  an  arbitrary  manner,  of  the  lives  and 
fortunes  of  the  citizens.  But  they  wholly  neglected  the 
wise  lesson  set  before  them,  to  preserve  what  is  good — to 
amend  what  is  defective— to  adapt  ancient  institutions  to 
altered  times — and  to  show  some  respect  for  the  habits, 
the  feelings,  and  the  prejudices  of  the  people  to  be  gov- 
erned. It  is  difficult  for  us  to  separate  the  men  who 
suggested  and  supported  the  wise  civil  measures  of  the 
Commonwealth  parliaments  from  the  excesses  and  ab- 
surdities of  the  Puritans ;  and  the  Cavalier  party  having 
gained  a  complete  victory  over  them,  we  take  our  im- 
pressions of  them  from  their  enemies;  but  I  believe  that 
many  of  them  were  of  the  same  principles,  and  actuated 
by  the  same  spirit,  as  Lord  Somers  and  the  authors  ot  the 

assured  his  Lords,  that,  notwithstanding  the  practices  that  had  been  used 
against  them,  they  should  continue  to  be  Lords." — Wklt.  Mem.  228. 

1  The  fee  to  a  barrister  with  a  stuff  gown,  on  the  hearing  of  a  cause,  was 
only  £l,  and  to  a  Lord  Protector's  counsel,  or  sergeai>t-at-law,  £2. — Ordi- 
nance, anno  1654,  c.  44 ;  Scobelfs  Acts,  p.  324.  See  also,  1654,  c.  25  ;  1656, 
c.  10 ;  Whit.  Mem.  421,  562,  608,  621,  622. 


394          CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    II.       [1651. 

Revolution  of  1688, — whom  we  are  all  taught  to  admire 
and  venerate.  If  the  Restoration  had  not  been  conducted 
with  so  much  precipitation,  if  the  proposition  of  the  vir- 
tuous Lord  Hale  had  been  acceded  to,  "  that  before  re- 
calling Charles  II.  they  should-  consider  what  reasonable 
restrictions  on  the  abuse  of  prerogative  the  late  King  had 
consented  to,  and  what  good  laws  had  been  passed  in  his 
absence  as  the  basis  of  a  happy  settlement,"  the  nation 
might  have  escaped  much  of  the  misgovernment,  dis- 
soluteness of  manners,  and  political  convulsions,  which 
marked  the  history  of  England  during  the  remainder  of 
this  century,  and  we  should  have  been  taught  habitually 
to  do  honor  to  the  memory  of  those  by  whose  wisdom 
and  patriotism  such  blessings  had  been  achieved. 


CHAPTER  LXXIII. 

LIFE   OF   LORD   KEEPER   HERBERT. 

I    SHOULD  now  naturally  proceed  to  the  life  of  the 
Earl  of  Clarendon,  who  executed  the  duties  of  Chan- 
cellor in   England  upon  the  Restoration ;  but  as  Sir 
EDWARD  HERBERT  actually  held   the   Great    Seal  for   a 
considerable  time,  with  the  title  of  Lord  Keeper,  although 
in  partibus  only,  and  as  his  name  is  always  introduced 
into  the  list  of  Lord  Chancellors  and  Lord  Keepers,  some 
account  of  him  may  be  expected  in  this  work.     He  acted 
a  prominent  part  in  one  of  the  most  memorable  passages 
of  English  History. 

On  the  execution  of  Charles  I.,  the  Prince,  being  in 
Holland,  took  upon  himself  the  royal  title,  and  had  a 
Great  Seal  engraved  ;  but  he  did  not  deliver  it  to  any  one, 
although  he  immediately  swore  in  some  of  his  fellow- 
exiles  Privy  Councillors.  He  carried  this  Seal  with  him 
into  Scotland  when  he  was  crowned  King  there,  having 
subscribed  the  "  Covenant,"  and  he  still  kept  it  in  his  own 
custody  when  he  advanced  at  the  head  of  the  Scottish 
army  into  England.  After  the  fatal  battle  of  Worcester, 
this  Great  Seal  was  lost.  It  would  rather  have  been  an 
incumbrance  to  Charles,  sheltered  by  the  royal  oak,  and 
in  his  marvelous  adventures  with  the  Penderells,  the 


1653-]  SfJ?  EDWARD     HERBERT.  395 

Mortons,  and  the  Lanes. — It  was  probably  thrown  into 
the  Severn,  that  it  might  not  be  sent  to  the  parliament  as 
a  trophy  of  Cromwell's  victory. 

When  Charles  was  again  in  safety  under  the  protection 
of  the  King  of  France,  he  caused  another  Great  Seal  of 
England  to  be  engraved  in  Paris,  chiefly  as  a  bauble  to  be 
kept  by  himself,  till,  upon  a  fortunate  turn  in  his  affairs, 
it  might  be  handed  over  to  a  Lord  Chancellor  or  Lord 
Keeper,  to  be  used  for  actual  business  within  his  recovered 
realm.  But  it  became  an  object  of  ambition  and  conten- 
tion among  his  courtiers,  who  amused  the  tedium  of  their 
banishment  by  intrigues  for  the  titles  of  offices  of  state 
and  offices  of  the  royal  household,  although  no  power  or 
profit  for  the  present  belonged  to  them. 

Charles  himself  favored  the  pretensions  of  Hyde  to  the 
Great  Seal ;  but  this  minister  was  most  particularly  ob- 
noxious to  the  Queen  Dowager,  Henrietta  Maria,  on  whom 
he/  son  chiefly  depended  for  a  subsistence  ;  and  out  of 
spite  to  the  man  she  hated,  she  warmly  supported  the 
cause  of  his  rival,  Sir  Edward  Herbert,  about  whom  she 
was  indifferent.  Her  importunity  succeeded :  the  Great 
Seal  was  delivered  by  the  King,  with  all  due  solemnity,  to 
her  candidate,  as  Lord  Keeper:  he  took  the  oaths  of 
allegiance  and  supremacy,  and  the  oath  of  office,  before  a 
meeting  of  the  pretended  Privy  Council;  and  thencefor- 
ward, on  all  occasions  of  mock  state,  when  the  King  of 
England  was  supposed  to  be  attended  by  his  high  func- 
tionaries,— the  envied  exile  strutted  about  bearing  the 
purse  with  the  Great  Seal  in  his  hand, — and  he  was  ad- 
dressed as  "  Lord  Keeper  Herbert." 

This  gentleman,  whose  professional  honors  brought  him 
so  little  comfort  or  advantage,  was  nobly  descended, 
being  the  son  of  Charles  Herbert,  of  Aston,  in  the  county 
of  Montgomery,  of  the  family  of  Lord  Herbert  of  Cher- 
bury.  After  leaving  the  University,  he  was  entered  of 
Lincoln's  Inn,  that  he  might  be  qualified  for  the  profes- 
sion of  the  law.  He  applied  himself  very  diligently  to  his 
studies,  and  on  being  called  to  the  bar, — from  his  con- 
nections and  his  own  industry  he  rose  into  good  practice, 
without  gaining  any  distinction.  In  the  famous  masque 
given  by  the  Inns  of  Courts  to  the  Queen,  in  1633,  he  was 
one  of  the  managers  for  Lincoln's  Inn,  and  assisted  Mr. 
Attorney  General  Noy  in  exposing  to  ridicule  the  pro- 


396          CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    II.       [1640. 

jectors  who,  about  this  time,  anticipated  some  of  the  dis- 
coveries of  the  philosophers  of  Laputa. 

He  likewise  assisted  him  and  Banks,  his  successor,  in 
the  scheme  for  taxing  the  people  without  authority  of 
parliament,  under  the  name  of  ''ship-money," — an  inven- 
tion  as  impracticable  as  many  of  those  which  were  ridi- 
culed. He  actually  abetted  all  the  measures  of  the  Court, 
and  was  one  of  those  who  hoped  that  parliament  would 
never  more  meet  in  England.  Their  wish  would  very 
likely  have  been  fulfilled,  had  it  not  been  for  the  Scottish 
insurrection,  caused  by  the  attempt  to  force  Episcopacy 
upon  that  nation  but  money  to  pay  the  army  being  in- 
dispensable, and  a  parliament  being  called,  —  to  be 
dismissed  as  soon  as  a  supply  was  granted, — he  was 
returned  by  family  interest  a  member  of  the  House 
of  Commons,  and  testified  his  determination  to  defend 
every  abuse  which  had  been  practiced  during  the  pre- 
ceding eleven  years.  For  this  earnest  of  his  services  he 
was  made  Solicitor  General  on  the  promotion  in  the  law 
which  took  place  in  consequence  of  the  death  of  Lord 
Keeper  Coventry.  Clarendon,  who  always  mentions  him 
ill-naturedly,  says,  that  he  was  remarkable  in  the  House 
"for  pride  and  peevishness;"  that  "his  parts  were  most 
prevalent  in  puzzling  and  perplexing;" — accuses  him  of 
speaking  very  indiscreetly  on  the  question  of  the  subsidy, 
whereby  it  was  lost ; — and  imputes  to  him  the  fatal  advice 
by  which  the  King  was  induced  suddenly  to  dissolve  the 
parliament  because  "  he  found  he  was  like  to  be  of  less 
authority  there  than  he  looked  to  be."1 

When  the  Long  Parliament  met  in  the  end  of  the  same 
year,  Herbert  was  exposed  to  the  pelting  of  a  most 
pitiless  storm,  for  he  was  posted  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons to  defend  the  Government,  and  the  task  of  excusing 
or  palliating  ship-money,  and  the  monopolies,  and  the 
cruel  sentences  of  the  Star  Chamber  and  High  Commis- 
sion, fell  exclusively  upon  him ;  for  Mr.  Attorney  General 
Banks,  who  was  much  more  implicated  in  these  griev- 
vances,  was  quietly  reposing  on  the  Judge's  woolsack  in 
the  House  of  Lords, — availing  himself  of  the  old  opinion 
that  the  Attorney  General,  being  summoned  as  an  at- 
tendant of  the  Peers,  could  not  sit  as  a  Member  of  the 
House  of  Commons.  Awed  and  terrified  by  the  proceed- 

1  Hist.  Reb.  book  ii. 


1642.]  SIR    EDWARD    HERBERT.  397 

ings  taken  against  Strafford,  Finch  and  other  ministers, 
Herbert  apprehended  that  he  might  himself  be  impeached. 
Under  these  circumstances,  without  venturing  boldly  to 
meet  Hampden  and  the  other  parliamentary  leaders,  he 
tried  by  private  applications  to  them  to  soften  them  to- 
wards him,  but  with  little  effect,  and  he  repented  that  he 
had  ever  taken  office. 

"  Longing  infinitely  to  be  out  of  that  fire,"  he  was 
snatched  from  it  at  a  moment  when  he  least  expected 
relief." '  Lord  Keeper  Finch  having  fled  the  country, 
and  Littleton,  the  Chief  Justice  of  the  Common  Pleas, 
having  succeeded  him,  Banks  was  made  Chief  Justice,  and 
Herbert  Attorney  General.  With  infinite  satisfaction  he 
vacated  his  seat  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and,  in  obedi- 
ence to  his  writ  of  summons,  took  his  place  on  the  wool- 
sack in  the  House  of  Lords,  at  the  back  of  the  Judges. 

His  joy  must  have  been  a  little  abated  by  having  soon 
for  his  colleague  the  famous  republican  lawyer,  Oliver  St. 
John,  who,  agreeing  at  this  juncture  with  two  or  three  of 
his  party  to  take  office  in  the  momentary  prospect  of  an 
accommodation,  became  Solicitor  General.2  It  is  im- 
possible that  there  could  have  been  any  cordiality  be- 
tween them,  for  St.  John,  though  continuing  down  to  the 
King's  death  to  be  called  "  Mr.  Solicitor,"  soon  ceased  to 
have  any  intercourse  with  the  Government,  still  pressed 
on  the  impeachments  with  unmitigated  rigor,  and  was  in 
reality  the  chief  legal  adviser  of  those  who  who  were  pre- 
paring for  civil  war. 

Herbert,  as  Attorney  General,  passed  a  year  in  anxious 
inactivity,  during  which  Strafford  was  attainted  and  exe- 
cuted, and  a  revolution  was  making  rapid  progress,  which 
he  deeply  deplored,  but  was  unable  to  oppose.  As  as- 
sistant to  the  Lords,  he  remained  during  this  time  in  the 
place  assigned  him  in  the  House,  a  silent  witness  of  the 
proceedings  against  his  colleagues, — of  the  passing  of  the 
acts  to  abolish  the  Star  Chamber  and  High  Commission, 
— and  of  the  debates  upon  the  bills  for  excluding  the 
Bishops  from  parliament,  and  for  transferring  to  the  two 
Houses  the  power  over  the  militia. 

At  last,  he  was  suddenly  called  into  action  by  the  King 
sending  for  him  to  Whitehall, — personally  delivering  to 
him  articles  of  impeachment  ready  engrossed  on  parch- 

1  Hist.  Reb.  book  iii.  *  Clarendon,  Ibid,  book  iii. 


398         CHANCELLORS    OF     CHARLES    II.       [1642. 

ment,  which  charged  Lord  Kimbolton  and  the  five  prin- 
cipal popular  leaders  in  the  House  of  Commons  with  high 
treason, — and  commanding  him  to  proceed  instantly  to 
the  House  of  Lords  that  he  might  there  exhibit  the  articles 
and  take  the  necessary  steps  for  having  the  accused  per- 
sons committed  to  prison,  and  brought  to  condign  punish- 
ment. If  any  faith  can  be  given  either  to  the  King  or 
the  Attorney  General,  the  latter  had  not  before  been 
in  the  slightest  degree  privy  to  this  illegal  and  insane 
scheme.  It  appears  to  us  that  Herbert  should  have  stren- 
uously, though  respectfully,  resisted  it,  and  pointing  out 
how  it  violated  the  law,  and  the  fatal  consequences  which 
it  must  necessarily  produce,  have  resigned  his  office  into 
the  King's  hands  rather  than  have  assisted  in  carrying  it 
on.1  But  we  must  judge  him  by  the  notions  of  right  and 
wrong  prevailing  in  his  own  age, — and  Lord  Clarendon, 
a  constitutional  lawyer  of  great  candor,  who  not  unfre- 
quently  censures  violations  of  law  to  extend  the  preroga- 
tive, seems  to  have  thought  that  the  Attorney  General 
was  as  little  at  liberty  to  disobey  or  question  the  instruc- 
tions he  then  received, — as  if  he  had  been  an  officer  in 
the  field  of  battle  ordered  by  his  General  to  open  a  fire 
upon  the  enemy.  Herbert  readily  and  promptly  obeyed, 
and  from  that  hour  civil  war  became  inevitable.  "  The 
court  was  reduced  to  a  lower  condition  and  to  more  dis- 
esteem  and  neglect  than  ever  it  had  undergone.  All  that 
had  formerly  been  said  of  plots  and  conspiracies  against 
the  parliament,  which  had  before  been  laughed  at,  was 
now  thought  true  and  real,  and  all  their  fears  and 
jealousies  looked  upon  as  the  effects  of  their  great  wisdom 
and  foresight."  ' 

In  the  Life  of  Lord  Keeper  Littleton,  who  was  more 
deeply  implicated  in  this  transaction,  I  have  described  the 
manner  in  which  the  charge  was  brought  forward  in  the 
House  of  Lords,  and  the  proceedings  to  which  it  directly 
gave  rise.3  I  have  now  to  relate  how  it  recoiled  upon  the 
Attorney  General  himself. 

The  House  of  Commons,  having  insured  the  safety  of 
the  five  members,  forthwith  began  to  act  upon  the  ofiens- 

1  As  my  most  honored  friend.  Sir  Charles  Wetherell,  in  1829,  nobly  re- 
signed the  same  office  when  required  to  prepare  the  Roman  Catholic  Relief 
Bill,  which  he  conscientiously  disapproved  of. 

2  Hist.  Reb.  b.  iv,  3  Ante,  Ch.  LXV. 


1642.]  SIR    EDWARD    HERBERT.  399 

ive,  and  required  the  Attorney  General  publicly  to  an- 
swer interrogatories:  "Whether  he  did  contrive,  frame, 
or  advise  the  articles  of  impeachment  ?  Whether  he  knew 
the  truth  of  them  upon  his  own  knowledge,  or  by  informa- 
tion ?  Whether  he  would  undertake  to  make  them  good 
when  he  should  be  thereunto  called  ?  From  whom  he  re- 
ceived them,  and  by  whose  direction  or  advice  he  did 
exhibit  them  ?  "  And  having  received  his  answer,  "  that 
he  had  neither  framed  nor  advised  them,  nor  knew  any- 
thing of  the  truth  of  them,  nor  could  undertake  to  justify 
them,  but  that  he  had  received  them  from  the  King,  and 
was  by  him  commanded  to  exhibit  them  ;"  they  resolved 
"  that  he  had  broken  the  privilege  of  parliament  in  pre- 
ferring those  articles,  and  that  a  charge  should  be  sent  to 
the  Lords  in  the  name  of  the  House  of  Commons  against 
him,  to  have  satisfaction  for  the  great  scandal  and  injury 
to  the  members  thereof."1 

Accordingly,  on  the  very  day  the  royal  assent  was  given 
to  the  Act  for  excluding  the  Bishops  from  parliament,  an 
impeachment  was  brought  up  against  the  Attorney 
General,  and  the  articles  being  read  to  him  while  he  stood 
up  in  his  place  he  required  a  copy  of  them.  Eight  days 
were  given  to  him  to  put  in  his  answer;  and  being  re- 
quired to  give  bail  for  his  appearance,  the  Earl  of  Mon- 
mouth  became  his  surety  to  the  amount  of  £$,ooo* 

In  his  formal  plea,  he  repeated  the  facts  he  had  before 
stated, — concluding  with  the  observation  that  "  he  did 
not  conceive  that  there  could  be  any  offense  in  what  was 
done  by  him  in  obedience  to  his  Majesty's  commands." 

The  King  then  very  irregularly  sent  a  letter  to  the 
Lord  Keeper  to  be  read  in  the  House,  in  which,  after  re- 
citing the  articles  of  impeachment,  which  he  had  with  his 
own  hand  delivered  to  the  Attorney  General,  he  thus  pro- 
ceeds :  "  We  further  declare  that  our  said  Attorney  did 
not  advise  or  contrive  the  said  articles,  nor  had  any  thing 
to  do  with  or  in  advising  any  breach  of  privilege  that  fol- 
lowed ;  and  for  what  he  did  in  obedience  to  our  com- 
mands we  conceive  he  was  bound  by  his  oath,  and  the 
duty  of  his  place,  and  by  the  trust  by  us  reposed  in  him 
so  to  do;  and  had  he  refused  to  obey  us  therein,  we 
would  have  questioned  him  for  the  breach  of  his  oath, 
duty,  and  trust," 

1  2  Parl.  Hist.  1089  »  Ibid.  1090.    4  St.  Tr.  120. 


400         CHANCELLORS  OF  CHARLES    II.          [1642. 

But  the  Lords  were  highly  incensed  by  this  letter,  con- 
sidering it  "  a  prelimiting  of  their  judgment ;"  and,  having 
communicated  it  to  the  House  of  Commons,  intimated 
that  they  were  ready  to  proceed  with  the  trial.  This  case 
being  taken  up  by  the  Commons  as  "  a  breach  of 
privilege,"  they  intrusted  the  management  of  the  impeach- 
ment to  Sergeant  Wilde,  who  opened  it  at  the  bar  of  the 
House  of  Lords,  at  prodigious  length,  and  with  great 
learning.  Having  examined  all  the  precedents  which 
could  throw  light  upon  the  subject,  he  came  to  the  de- 
fendant's plea.  "  But  for  the  excuse  under  which  he  seeks 
to  shelter  himself,  that  it  is  the  Kings  command,  this  adds 
more  to  his  offense  ;  a  foul  aspersion  on  his  Majesty,  and 
wrong  to  his  gracious  Majesty  ;  for  he  could  not  but  know 
that  the  King's  command  in  things  illegal  is  utterly  frus- 
trate and  of  no  effect ;  his  patents  and  grants,  if  against 
the  Crown  in  matter  of  interest,  are  merely  void  quia  in 
deceptione  Regis ;  if  against  the  weal  public,  they  are  ipso 
jure  vacua ;  much  more  his  command  in  matters  criminal, 
because  no  action  lies  against  him."  The  Sergeant  then 
said  that  many  aggravating  circumstances  might  be 
added,  "  as  the  Attorney's  profession  and  knowledge  of 
the  law, — his  long  experience  in  the  course  and  privileges 
of  parliament,  having  been  so  often  and  of  late  a  member 
of  the  House  of  Commons,  and  obliged  to  them  by  many 
favors,  and  now  an  assistant  or  attendant  in  the  House  of 
Lords."  ' 

Sir  Thomas  Beddingfield,  Sir  Thomas  Gardiner,  and 
some  juniors,  had  been  assigned  by  the  House  as  counsel 
for  the  defendant,  and  he  now  prayed  to  be  heard  by 
them, — which  he  claimed  as  a  right,  being  only  charged 
with  a  misdemeanor;  but  Sergeant  Wilde  exclaimed, 
"  We  are  a  committee  representing  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, and  it  doth  not  stand  with  the  dignity  of  our  House 
to  have  counsel  come  to  confront  us."  He  further  alleged 
that  this  offense  of  Mr.  Attorney's  had  been  voted  a  high 
breach  of  the  privileges  of  parliament,  "which  no  counsel 
can,  neither  ought  they,  to  judge  of."8 

It  must  be  confessed  that  Sergeant  Wilde,  a  meritorious 
and  useful  member  of  the  Lower  House,  did  sometimes 
push  his  privilege  notions  to  a  most  extravagant  length. 
On  this  occasion  the  Lords  very  properly  decided,  "  that 

1  4  St.  Tr.  123.  !  2  Parl.  Hist.  1125.     4  St.  Tr.  124. 


1642.]  S/#    EDWARD    HERBERT.  401 

Mr.  Attorney  should  have  the  benefit  of  counsel."  It 
being  late,  the  House  then  adjourned. 

Next  morning  a  scene  took  place  at  the  bar,  to  be  re- 
corded by  me  with  pain,  as  being  little  creditable  to  my 
profession,  which  with  very  few  exceptions,  has  shown 
great  independence  and  spirit,  entitling  itself  to  the 
respect  and  gratitude  of  the  nation. 

Sergeant  Wilde,  in  the  name  of  the  Commons,  intimated 
that,  notwithstanding  the  erroneous  decision  of  the  Lords, 
"counsel  would  appear  and  plead  for  the  defendant  at 
their  own  peril,"  and  very  intelligibly  threatened  them 
with  the  vengeance  of  the  House  of  Commons.  Bed- 
dingfield  and  Gardiner,  instead  of  boldly  and  manfully 
doing  their  duty  to  their  client,  and  rejoicing  -in  the 
dangers  they  had  to  encounter  in  braving  the  Commons, 
— when  they  were  called  upon  to  proceed,  in  a  sneaking 
and  paltry  manner  pretended  that  they  were  not  pre- 
pared, as  "  a  question  of  privilege  "  had  been  unexpectedly 
started  upon  them, — and  they  prayed  for  delay.  The 
Lords  construed  this  into  a  refusal  to  plead,  and  contempt 
of  the  authority  of  the  House,  and  very  properly  com- 
mitted them  both  to  the  Tower,  there  to  remain  during 
pleasure.1 

On  the  petition  of  the  defendant,  the  House  assigned 
him  two -other  leading  counsel,  Sergeant  Green  and  Ser- 
geant Pheasant;  but  they  being  sent  for,  pitifully  excused 
themselves  on  the  ground  that,  having  been  so  suddenly 
called  in,  they  could  not  do  justice  to  the  defense.  The 
defendant's  junior  counsel,  Hearne  and  Chute,  who,  to 
their  honor,  had  been  willing  from  the  beginning  to  do 
their  best  for  their  client,  whatever  might  befall  them- 
selves, were  now  heard,  and  spoke  for  him  with  great 
ability. 

Finally,  he  was  himself  heard  as  to  the  right  of  the  At- 
torney General  to  originate  such  a  prosecution  without  a 
grand  jury;  and  he  showed  several  instances  of  charges 
of  treason,  originated  by  the  Attorney  General,  ex  officio, 
before  the  Lords,  as  that  against  the  Earl  of  Bristol  at  the 
commencement  of  the  present  reign ;  but  these  were  all 
against  Peers,  and  no  instance  could  be  found  since 

1  Having  lain  in  prison  six  days,  on  their  humble  petition  they  were  re- 
leased.— 4  St.  Tr.  124. 
in. — 26 


402          CHANCELLORS     OF    CHARLES    II.       [1645. 

MAGNA  CHARTA  of  an  attempt  to  convict  a  Commoner  in 
this  manner,  without  the  intervention  of  a  jury.1 

The  Lords  found  the  defendant  guilty  ;  but,  as  far  as 
he  was  concerned,  considered  it  rather  a  venial  case,  and 
he  had  nearly  escaped  with  a  nominal  punishment.  The 
sentence  finally  agreed  upon  was, — "That  he. was  disabled 
and  made  incapable  of  being  a  member,  assistant,  or 
pleader  in  either  House  of  Parliament,  and  all  offices,  save 
that  of  Attorney  General,  which  he  now  holds,  and  that 
he  should  be  forthwith  committed  to  the  Fleet."  ! 

He  thus  retained  his  office  of  Attorney  General,  to  the 
great  annoyance  of  those  wished  to  have  seen  it  conferred 
upon  St.  John. 

He  was  liberated  from  gaol  just  about  the  time  when 
the  King  left  London.  He  joined  his  Royal  Master  at 
York,  and  remained  faithful  to  him  amidst  all  the  vicissi- 
tudes of  the  civil  war.  He  did  not,  like  some  other 
lawyers,  both  royalists  and  republican,  throw  aside  his 
gown  and  put  on  harness  ;  but  he  assisted  as  a  civilian 
with  his  advice  and  his  pen,  and  was  generally  respected 
by  the  cavaliers,  although  much  disliked  by  Sir  Edward 
Hyde,  who,  from  jealousy,  tried  to  keep  him  at  a  distance 
from  the  King,  and  to  depress  him  as  much  as  possible. 
He  stationed  himself  during  the  war  at  Oxford  and  acted 
as  assistant  to  the  House  of  Lords  in  the  rival  parliament 
held  there  in  1644. 

Among  the  doquets  of  the  patents  of  Letters  Patent, 
and  other  instruments  which  passed  under  the  Great  Seal 
at  Oxford  in  the  time  of  Charles  I.,  is  the  entry  of  "a  dis- 
charge for  Sir  Edward  Herbert,  Knight,  continuing  no 
longer  in  the  office  of  his  Majesty's  Attorney  General ;  " 
and  another  of  "  a  patent  to  Sir  Thomas  Gardiner,  Knight, 
of  the  office  of  his  Majesty's  Attorney  General,  with  all 
fees,  profits,  rewards,  and  privileges  thereto  belonging;" 
but  Dugdale  takes  no  notice  of  this  change,  and  Clarendon 
continues  to  designate  Herbert  by  the  title  of  Attorney 
General  till  the  time  when  he  was  made  Lord  Keeper. 

He  never  would  acknowledge  the  authority  of  the  parli- 
ment  ;  and  when  the  royal  cause  was  desperate,  he  went 
abroad  and  joined  the  Prince  in  Holland.  Here  he  was 
much  favored  by  Prince  Rupert ;  but  in  all  the  intrigues 
of  the  little  Court  he  was  crossed  by  his  old  personal 

1  4  St.  Tr.  129.  *  Ibid.  130. 


1649-]  SIR    EDWARD    HERBERT.  403 

enemy,  Hyde,  who,  under  the  title  of  Chancellor  of  the 
Exchequer,  wished  to  guide  every  thing  by  his  own  single 
opinion,  and  who  says  that  at  this  time  "  the  Attorney- 
General,  Herbert,  of  all  men  living,  was  most  disposed  to 
make  discord  and  disagreement  between  men,  all  his  facul- 
ties being  resolved  into  a  spirit  of  contradicting,  disputing, 
and  wrangling  upon  anything  that  was  proposed.  He 
having  no  title  or  pretense  to  interpose  in  councils,  found 
it  easy  to  infuse  into  Prince  Rupert,  who  totally  resigned 
himself  to  his  advice,  such  arguments  as  might  disturb 
any  resolution.1  This  chiefly  refers  to  the  employment  of 
the  small  naval  force  under  Rupert's  command,  with 
which  he  for  some  time  carried  on  a  buccaneering  warfare 
against  English  commerce. 

Clarendon,  for  once,  was  softened  towards  his  rival  by 
kindness  shown  him  in  distress.  After  relating  the  danger- 
ous adventures  which  he  and  Lord  Cottington  had 
encountered  when  taken  by  freebooters,  and  carried  into 
Ostend,  on  their  way  to  join  Charles  in  Holland,  he  says, 
"  They  had  not  been  an  hour  at  the  Hague  when  Herbert, 
the  Attorney  General,  came  to  them  and  congratulated 
their  arrival,  and  told  them  how  much  they  had  been 
wanted,  and  how  much  Prince  Rupert  longed  for  their 
company."  But  the  merit  of  this  courtesy  he  lessens  by 
the  observation,  "  The  Prince  of  Wales's  Court  was  full  of 
faction  and  animosity  against  each  other,  so  that  the  new- 
comers were  not  only  very  well  received  by  the  Prince, 
but  very  welcome  to  every  body,  who  being  angry  with  the 
other  Councillors  there,  believed  that  matters  would  be 
better  carried  now  they  were  come." 

The  noble  historian's  inextinguishable  spleen  soon  after 
again  breaks  out  in  his  narration  of  a  fracas  in  which  Lord 
Colepeper  received  a  black  eye  from  Sir  John  Walsh. 
This  he  ascribes  to  a  breach  of  confidence  on  the  part  of 
the  Attorney  General,  who  had  been  told  of  a  dicussion 
in  council  respecting  Walsh's  character,  and  "who  was 
the  unfittest  man  living  to  be  trusted  with  such  a  secret, 
having  always  about  him  store  of  oil  to  throw  upon  such 
a  fire.''2 

The  next  notice  we  have  of  the  subject  of  this  memoir 
is  in  Clarendon's  account  of  the   Declaration  in  the  name 
of  the  new  Sovereign,  which  he  himself  prepared,  on  the 
1  Hist.  Reb.  b.  xi.  2  Ibid. 


404        CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    II.        [1653. 

news  arriving  of  the  death  of  Charles  I.  The  Prince  of 
Orange  insisted  that  this  should  be  communicated  to 
Herbert,  "  as  one  who  was  like  to  make  a  judgment  how 
far  anything  of  that  nature  was  like  to  be  acceptable  and 
agreeable  to  the  people  ;"  and  the  author  was  very  indig- 
nant that  his  composition  should  be  submitted  to  such 
criticism,  but  was  obliged  to  adopt  several  alterations 
which  were  suggested  to  make  it  less  unpalatable  to  the 
Presbyterians.1 

When  Charles  went  into  Scotland,  and  for  a  time 
became  a  "covenanted  King"  under  the  Marquis  of 
Argyle,  Herbert  remained  on  the  Continent  in  the  suite 
of  the  Duke  of  York, — attended  him  to  the  Court  of  the 
Duke  of  Lorraine,  and  is  accused  by  Clarendon,  without 
proof  or  probability,  of  having  there  tried  to  marry  him 
to  the  natural  daughter  of  that  Prince.  He  gave  entire 
satisfaction  to  the  royal  family,  and  particularly  to  the 
Queen  Mother,  who  would  have  shrunk  with  horror  from 
the  notion  of  a  mesalliance,  as  Clarendon  himself  after- 
wards found — from  her  disdainful  refusal  to  acknowledge 
his  own  daughter  as  her  daughter-in-law. 

Herbert  joined  the  young  King  at  Paris  on  his  arrival 
there,  after  the  battle  of  Worcester,  and  was  kindly 
received  by  him.  I  have  already  related  how  he  was  after- 
wards invested  with  the  dignity  of  Lord  Keeper  of  the 
Great  Seal.2  Clarendon  in  vain  attempted  to  conceal  his 
extreme  mortification  at  this  appointment;  and  tries  to 
comfort  himself  by  saying  that  "the  King  knew  the  man 
very  well,  and  had  neither  esteem  nor  kindness  for  him, 
and  was  only  influenced  by  the  Queen  to  make  the 
Attorney  General  Lord  Keeper,  which  was  a  promotion 
very  natural,  men  ordinarily  rising  from  the  one  office 
to  the  other.  So  his  Majesty  called  him  to  his  Council, 
and  made  him  Lord  Keeper  of  the  Great  Seal,  with  which 
he  seemed  wonderfully  delighted,  and  for  some  time  lived 
well  towards  every  body ;  though  to  anything  of  busi- 
ness he  appeared  only  in  his  old  excellent  faculty  of 
raising  doubts,  and  objecting  against  any  thing  that  was 
proposed,  and  proposing  nothing  himself;  which  was  a 
temper  of  understanding  he  could  not  rectify."5 

I  shall  not   be   expected  to   give  an    account   of  Lord 
Keeper  Herbert's  speeches  in   opening  parliaments, — of 
1  Hist.  Reb.  b.  xii.          *  Ante,  p.  395.  3  Hist.  Reb.  b.  xiv. 


1653.]  SIR    EDWARD    HERBERT.  405 

the  manner  in  which  he  dispatched  business  in  the  Court 
of  Chancery, — or  of  legal  reforms  introduced  by  him.  He 
held  the  Great  Seal  rather  more  than  a  year,  during  all 
which  time  he  was  resident  at  Paris;  and  if  we 'are  to 
credit  his  historiographer,  he  was  employed  in  stirring  up 
rather  than  in  composing  strifes.  The  implacable  enmity 
between  him  and  Hyde  kept  the  Court  in  a  state  of  con- 
stant agitation.  The  account  we  have  of  his  conduct 
places  him  uniformly  in  the  wrong,  but  this  coming  from 
such  a  quarter,  and  being  entirely  ex  parte,  must  be  re- 
ceived with  many  grains  of  allowance. 

We  are  told  that  Herbert  excited  Long,  the  Secretary 
of  State,  to  bring  a  false  charge  against  "  the  Chancellor," 
(for  this  is  the  pompous  title  by  which  Hyde  always  de- 
signates himself  at  this  time,  that  he  might  not  appear  of 
inferior  rank  to  his  rival,  the  "  Lord  Keeper,"  ')  of  having 
gone  over  to  England  and  had  a  secret  interview  with 
Cromwell,  and  that,  when  this  was  shown  to  be  ridiculous, 
Herbert  himself  charged  "the  Chancellor"  with  having 
slandered  the  King.  The  witness  in  support  of  this  charge 
was  Lord  Gerard,  who  swore  that  "Sir  Edward  Hyde  had 
lamented  to  him  that  the  King  was  so  fond  of  pleasure,  and 
so  adverse  to  business."  The  accused  party  answered, 
"  that  he  did  not  recollect  exactly  what  had  passed  in  a 
private  conversation  supposed  to  have  taken  place  a  year 
ago,  but  if  the  Lord  Gerard  would  positively  affirm  he 
had  used  such  language,  he  would  rather  confess  it,  and 
submit  himself  to  his  Majesty's  judgment,  whether  such 
words  could  be  thought  to  proceed  from  any  malice  of 
his  heart  towards  him,  than,  by  denying  it,  continue  the 
debate."  The  "  CHANCELLOR  "  then  offered  to  retire,  but 
the  King  forbade  him,  upon  which  the  "  KEEPER  "  was 
very  angry,  and  said  "  the  words  amounted  to  an  offense 
of  a  high  nature  ;  and  that  he  was  sorry  his  Majesty  was 
no  more  sensible  of  them ;  that  for  any  man,  especially  a 
Councillor,  and  a  man  in  so  near  a  trust,  to  accuse  his 
Master  of  not  loving  his  business,  and  being  inclined  to 
pleasures,  was  to  do  all  he  could  to  persuade  all  men  to 
forsake  him."  While  he  was  proceeding,  with  great 
warmth  and  positiveness,  the  King  interrupted  him,  and 
said,  "  I  do  really  believe,  that  the  faithful  Councillor  now 
blamed  has  used  those  very  words,  because  he  has  often 
1  He  was  nominally  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer. 


406          CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    II.       [1654. 

said  that  and  much  more  to  myself;  which  I  have  never 
taken  ill ;  and  I  do  really  believe  I  am  myself  in  fault,  and 
do  not  enough  delight  in  business,  which  I  must  own  is 
not  very  pleasant  to  me."  But  he  declared  "that  he  was 
well  satisfied  with  the  Chancellor  s  affection  towards  him, 
and  took  nothing  ill  that  he  had  said  ;"  and  directed  an 
entry  to  that  effect  to  be  entered  iri  the  books  of  the 
Council.1 

At  this  time  there  was  a  considerable  chance  that  Her- 
bert might  have  continued  in  office  and  in  favor  till  the 
restoration  of  the  King  ;  and  then  as  Lord  Chancellor  and 
Prime  Minister,  he  might  have  guided  the  destinies  of 
the  country ;  but  after  a  hard  struggle  his  rival  triumphed, 
the  Lord  Keeper  was  dismissed,  and  he  died  in  exile  of  a 
broken  heart. 

Prince  Rupert,  his  great  patron,  having  left  the  Court 
in  disgust,  had  now  retired  into  Germany,  and  Hyde,  by 
unwearied  assiduity,  had  for  a  time  softened  the  dislike 
to  him  felt  by  the  Queen  mother.  Charles  was  often  told, 
that  all  the  disputes  among  his  followers  arose  from  the 
ill  temper  of  Lord  Keeper  Herbert,  and  in  the  hope  of  a 
more  quiet  life,  determined  to  sacrifice  him.  He  took  the 
opportunity  of  effecting  his  purpose,  when,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  strict  alliance  between  Cardinal  Mazarine 
and  Cromwell,  he  was  about  to  remove  from  France  into 
the  Low  Countries.  "  He  could  not  forget,"  says  Claren- 
don, "  the  vexation  the  Lord  Keeper  had  always  given 
him,  and  how  impossible  it  was  for  him  to  live  easily  with 
any  body,  and  so  in  making  the  list  of  those  who  were  to 
go  with  him,  he  left  his  name  out,  and,  thereupon,  this 
coming  to  the  knowledge  of  the  Keeper,  he  sought  the 
King,  and  asked  him,  if  he  did  not  intend  that  he  should 
wait  upon  him.  His  Majesty  told  him,  No/  for  that  he 
resolved  to  make  no  use  of  his  Great  Seal;  and  therefore, 
that  he  should  stay  at  Parts,  and  not  put  himself  to  the 
trouble  of  such  a  journey  which  he  himself  intended  to  make, 
without  the  ease  and  benefit  of  a  coach?  The  Keeper  ex- 
postulated with  him  in  vain  upon  the  dishonor  that  it 

1  Hist.  Reb.  786.  This  anecdote  is  at  all  events  veiy  creditable  to  Charles, 
and  deserves  to  be  more  generally  known. 

*  Charles  was  too  poor  to  keep  a  carriage  for  some  years  after,  and  in  this 
journey  yoked  two  old  coach-horses  which  he  had  to  a  wagon,  to  carry  his 
bed  and  his  clothes. 


1654-]  SIX    EDWARD    HERBERT.  407 

would  be  to  him  to  be  left  behind,  and  the  next  day 
brought  the  Great  Seal  and  delivered  it  to  him,  and  de- 
sired that  he  would  sign  a  paper  in  which  his  Majesty  ac- 
knowledged that  he  had  received  again  his  Great  Seal  from 
him,  which  the  King  very  willingly  signed."  l 

On  whatever  terms  they  parted,  they  never  met  more. 
Stung  by  what  he  considered  the  ingratitude  of  that 
family  for  whom  he  had  renounced  his  profession,  his 
family,  and  his  country,  he  gave  up  all  intercourse  with 
them,  and  as  they  would  forget  nothing  and  learn  nothing, 
he  considered  that  they  were  irredeemably  doomed  to 
destruction.  However,  he  would  by  no  means  attempt 
to  make  his  peace  with  the  Cromwellians,  whom  he  held 
in  unabated  abhorrence.  When  Charles,  attended  by 
Hyde,  Cottington,  and  Colepeper,  proceeded  to  the  Low 
Countries,  Herbert  took  an  obscure  lodging  in  one  of  the 
fauxbourgs  of  Paris,  and  there  he  languished  for  three  years, 
neglecting  all  the  world,  and  neglected  by  it.  Had  he, 
according  to  the  example  of  his  rival,  employed  this  time 
in  recording  the  eventful  scenes  through  which  he  passed, 
he  might  have  thrown  a  very  different  light  upon  them 
from  that  in  which  we  view  them  ;  he  might  have  achieved 
a  considerable  name  in  history  for  himself,  and  his  chance 
of  being  remembered  as  an  English  lawyer  and  statesman 
would  -not  have  depended  on  this  imperfect  memoir. 
Having  lived  in  entire  seclusion  and  idleness, — his  mind 
a  prey  to  discontent  and  despair, — he  expired  at  Paris,  in 
the  autumn  of  the  year  1657,  at  a  time  when  Cromwell 
was  courted  by  all  the  powers  of  Europe,  and  the  star  of 
the  Stuarts  seemed  to  have  set  for  ever. 

There  are  no  sufficient  materials  to  judge  fairly  of  his 
character  beyond  pronouncinghim  a  man  of  high  principle, 
whose  conduct  was  ever  consistent  and  honorable.  There 
is  reason  to  think  that,  though  a  sincere  Protestant,  he 
was  more  tolerant  on  religious  matters  than  his  successful 
rival,  and  that,  if  he  had  remained  in  office  till  the  King's 
return,  the  settlement  of  the  Church  might  have  been 
more  comprehensive,  and  more  in  accordance  with  the 
expectations  held  out  to  the  Presbyterian  party,  by  whose 
efforts  the  monarchy  was  re-established.  Yet,  not  only 
in  literature,  but  in  a  knowledge  of  mankind  and  aptitude 

1  Hist.  Reb.  b.  xiv. 


4o8          CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    II.       [1654. 

for  affairs,  he  must  be  allowed  to  be  greatly  inferior  to 
the  man  by  whom  he  was  supplanted. 

Upon  the  Restoration,  his  services  were  remembered 
and  his  family  was  patronized.  His  eldest  son  rose  to  a 
high  command  in  the  army,  and  was  slain  fighting  for 
King  William  at  the  battle  of  Aghrim.  His  second  son 
was  the  distinguished  naval  officer  who  fought  at  Beachy 
Head,  and  was  created  Earl  of  Torrington.  His  third 
son  became  Chief  Justice  of  the  King's  Bench  under 
James  II.,  followed  him  into  exile,  was  made  by  that 
Sovereign  Lord  Keeper  of  the  Great  Seal  in  partibus,  and 
if  there  had  been  another  restoration  of  the  Stuarts  might 
have  stood  in  the  list  of  "  Lord  Chancellors,"  whose  lives 
I  have  to  record.1 


CHAPTER   LXXIV. 

LIFE  OF  LORD  CHANCELLOR  CLARENDON  FROM  HIS  BIRTH 
TILL  THE   EXECUTION   OF   LORD    STRAFFORD. 

I  NOW  enter  upon  a  task  of  great  difficulty — embar- 
rassed not  by  the  scantiness,  but  by  the  superfluity 
of  my  materials. 

"  Inopem  me  copia  fecit." 

The  subject  of  this  memoir  was  personally  concerned  in 
many  of  the  most  important  events  which  marked  the 
thirty  most  interesting  years  to  be  found  in  our  annals;  by 
his  own  voluminous  writings,  and  those  of  his  contempora- 
ries, we  are  amply  informed  of  all  he  did,  and  said,  and 
thought  ;  and  more  praise  and  censure  have  been  unduly 
lavished  upon  him  than  perhaps  on  any  other  public  man 
who  ever  appeared  in  England.  But  striving  to  condense, 
and  keeping  in  view  the  just  boundaries  of  biography  and 
history,  I  must  not  omit  any  statement  or  observations 
which  I  may  deem  necessary  to  convey  an  adequate  notion 
of  his  career  and  of  his  character. 

EDWARD  HYDE  was  of  a  respectable  gentleman's  family, 
which  for  centuries  had  been  settled  in  the  county  of 
Chester,  and,  in  Scottish  phrase,  had  been  "  Hydes  of 

1  L.  L.  C.  131. 


1625.]  EARL     OF    CLARENDON.  409 

that  ilk,"  being  possessed  of  an  estate  by  the  name  of 
which  they  were  designated  when  surnames  came  into 
fashion.  Lawrence,  his  grandfather,  a  cadet  of  this  family, 
migrated  into  the  West,  and  established  himself  at  Din- 
ton,  in  the  county  of  Wilts.  Henry,  the  Chancellor's 
father,  studied  the  law  in  the  Middle  Temple,  but  marry- 
ing a  Wiltshire  lady  "  of  a  good  fortune,  in  the  account  of 
that  age,"  he  became  a  country  squire,  after  having 
traveled  through  Germany  and  Italy.  He  sat  in  several 
parliaments  ;  but  having  neither  hope  of  Court  preferment, 
nor  ambition  to  complain  of  grievances,  he  resolved  to 
devote  the  remainder  of  his  days  to  country  pursuits  and 
pleasures.  "  From  the  death  of  Queen  Elizabeth  he  never 
was  in  London,  though  he  lived  above  thirty  years  after; 
and  his  wife,  who  was  married  to  him  above  forty  years, 
never  was  in  London  in  her  life  ;  the  wisdom  and  frugality 
of  that  time  being  such,  that  few  gentlemen  made  jour- 
neys to  London,  or  any  other  expensive  journeys,  but 
upo'n  important  business,  and  their  wives  never ;  by  which 
they  enjoyed  and  improved  their  estates  in  the  country, 
and  kept  great  hospitality  in  their  houses,  brought  up 
their  children  well,  and  were  beloved  by  their  neigh- 
bors." l 

The  Chancellor  was  born  at  Dinton,  on  the  i8th  of 
February,  1609.  He  received  his  early  classical  education 
under  the  paternal  roof  from  the  vicar  of. the  parish,  who, 
"  though  of  very  indifferent  parts,  had  bred  good  scholars ;  " 
but  he  was  chiefly  grateful  to  "  the  superintending  care 
and  conversation  of  his  father,  who  was  an  excellent 
scholar,  and  took  pleasure  in  conferring  with  him." 

In  his  fourteenth  year  he  was  sent  to  the  University  of 
Oxford,  and  admitted  of  Magdalen  Hall.  Being  then  a 
younger  son,  he  was  intended  for  holy  orders  ;  but  he  did 
not  make  much  progress  in  theological  studies,  and  having 
taken  his  Bachelor's  degrees  in  February,  1626,  he  quitted 
the  University  "  rather  with  the  opinion  of  a  young  man 
of  parts  and  pregnancy  of  wit,  than  that  he  had  improved 
it  much  by  industry."  3 

About  this  time  his  elder  brother  died,  and  he  was 
entered  a  student  of  law  in  the  Middle  Temple,  under  the 
care  of  his  uncle,  Sir  Nicholas,  afterwards  Chief  Justice  of 
the  King's  Bench,  then  Treasurer  of  that  Society. 

Life  of  Clarendon,  i.  5.  *  Ibid.  8. 


410         CHANCELLORS     OF    CHARLES    II.       [1628- 

But  his  studies  were  seriously  interrupted,  first,  by  the 
plague  which  raged  for  some  months  in  London,  and  then 
by  a  lingering  attack  of  ague  when  he  had  retreated  into 
the  country.  It  was  Michaelmas  term,  1626,  before  he 
was  able  to  establish  himself  regularly  in  chambers.  He 
confesses  that  he  had  contracted  a  habit  of  idleness  and 
of  desultory  reading,  and  that,  when  he  returned,  "  it 
was  without  great  application  to  the  study  of  the  law 
for  some  years."  He  now  spent  most  of  his  time  with 
"swash  bucklers"  and  discharged  military  officers  who 
had  fought  in  Germany  and  the  Low  Countries,  accom- 
panying them  to  fencing-schools,  ordinaries,  and  theaters. 
But  he  assures  us  that  his  morals  were  not  contaminated 
by  these  dangerous  associates  ;  and  this  being  so,  he  seems 
rather  to  have  reflected  with  satisfaction  on  the  oppor- 
tunity he  then  improved  of  acquiring  a  knowledge  of  men 
and  manners.  He  says,  "  that  since  it  pleased  God  to 
preserve  him  whilst  he  did  keep  that  company,  and  to 
withdraw  him  so  soon  from  it,  he  was  not  sorry  he  had 
some  experience  in  the  conversation  of  such  men,  and  of  the 
license  of  those  times," — adding,  with  considerable  felicity, 
"  that  he  had  more  cause  to  be  terrified  upon  the  reflec- 
tion than  the  man  who  had  viewed  Rochester  Bridge  in 
the  morning  that  it  was  broken,  and  which  he  had  gal- 
loped over  in  the  night." '  He  was  fond  of  literature, 
and  he  employed  several  hours  each  day  in  reading  ;  but 
he  would  utterly  have  neglected  Plowden  and  Coke,  which 
then  showed  the  newest  fashions  of  the  law,  if  it  had  not 
been  for  his  uncle,  Sir  Nicholas,  who  questioned  him 
about  the  "  moots  "  he  attended,  and  often  "  put  cases  ' 
for  his  opinion.  But  natural  disposition,  or  the  prospect 
of  succeeding  to  a  comfortable  patrimony,  still  made  him 
affect  the  company  of  the  gay  and  the  dissolute. 

In  the  summer  of  1628,  the  old  Chief  Justice,  with  a 
view  of  compelling  him  to  mix  with  lawyers,  appointed 
him  to  "  ride"  the  Norfolk  circuit  as  his  Marshal.  Un- 
fortunately, at  Cambridge,  the  first  assize  town,  he  was 
attacked  by  the  smallpox,  and  he  was  so  ill  that  his  life 
was  despaired  of;  but  at  the  end  of  a  month  he  was  able 
to  proceed  to  his  father's  in  Wiltshire. 

1  Life,  i.  10.  In  his  old  age  he  bestows  this  qualified  commendation  on 
this  passage  of  his  youth,  that  "  he  was  desirous  to  preserve  himself  from 
any  notable  scandal  of  any  kind,  and  to  live  caute,  if  not  caste" — Life* 
iii.  974. 


1628.]  EARL     OF    CLARENDON.  41 1 

Soon  after  the  recovery  of  his  health,  a  circumstance 
occurred  which  gave  a  new  turn  to  his  views  and  his 
character.  He  fell  desperately  in  love  with  a  Wiltshire 
beauty,  the  daughter  of  Sir  George  Ayliffe,  a  young  lady 
with  no  fortune,  though  of  good  family  and  high  con- 
nections. His  indulgent  father  consented  to  their  union. 

He  thus  became  allied  to  the  Marquis  of  Hamilton, 
and  "  was  introduced  into  another  way  of  conversation 
than  he  had  formerly  been  accustomed  to,  and  which,  in 
truth,  by  the  acquaintance,  by  the  friends  and  enemies 
he  then  made,  had  an  influence  upon  the  whole  course  of 
his  life  afterwards."  But  his  domestic  happiness  came 
to  a  sudden  termination.  In  little  more  than  six  months 
after  his  marriage,  his  young  wife,  in  a  journey  from  Lon- 
don into  Wiltshire,  caught  the  malignant  smallpox  and 
died.  When  he  was  sensible  of  the  loss  he  had  sustained, 
he  was  so  overwhelmed  with  grief  that  he  could  hardly 
be  restrained  by  his  father  from  resigning  his  profession, 
and  seeking  seclusion  in  a  foreign  land. 

He  remained  a  widower  near  three  years,  the  greater 
part  of  which  time  he  devoted  to  books,  but  neither  then, 
nor  at  any  period  of  his  life,  did  he  attend  very  seriously 
to  the  study  of  the  law, — with  the  technicalities  of  which 
he  was  never  familiar.  He  continued  to  cultivate  the 
high-born  relatives  of  his  late  wife,  and  he  made  acquaint- 
ance with  Ben  Jonson,a  Cotton,  Isaac  Walton,  May, 
Carew,  Edmund  Waller,  Sir  Kenelm  Digby,  and  Chilling- 
worth.  His  manners  were  more  polished  and  agreeable 
than  those  of  most  lawyers,  and  he  was  kindly  noticed, 
not  only  by  Lord  Keeper  Coventry,  but  by  the  Earl  of 
Manchester,  Lord  Privy  Seal,  the  Earl  of  Pembroke,  Lord 
Chamberlain,  the  Earls  of  Holland,  Hereford  and  Essex,  and 
others  of  great  consequence  about  the  Court.  His  regard 
for  the  members  of  his  own  profession  he  chiefly  confined 
to  Lane,  Attorney  General  to  the  Prince,  and  afterwards 
Lord  Keeper,  Sir  Jeffrey  Palmer,  then  a  rising  convey- 
ancer, afterwards  Attorney  General  to  Charles  II.,  and 
Bulstrode  Whitelock,  then  getting  into  the  lead  on  the 

1  Life,  i.  18. 

8  "  He  (Ben  Jonson)  had  for  many  years  an  extraordinary  kindness  for  Mr. 
Hyde,  till  he  found  he  betook  himself  to  business,  which  he  believed  ought 
never  to  be  preferred  before  his  company." — Life,  i.  30.  Hyde  preferred 
Ben  to  all  poets,  living  or  dead,  except  Cowley,  but  does  not  seem  to  have 
been  at  all  acquainted  with  the  writings  of  Shakespeare. 


412          CHANCELLORS     OF    CHARLES    II.      [1632. 

Oxford  Circuit,  afterwards  Lord  Keeper  to  the  Common- 
wealth,— with  all  whom  he  was  at  this  time  on  a  footing 
of  the  most  friendly  intercourse,  although  their  courses 
were  afterwards  so  devious.1  But  the  man  with  whom,  he 
tells  us,  he  had  the  most  entire  friendship,  and  of  whom 
he  speaks  in  terms  of  the  warmest  admiration  and  affec- 
tion, was  Lucius  Carey,  Lord  Falkland, — in  all  whose 
sentiments  he  continued  ever  heartily  to  concur,  till  this 
bright  ornament  of  his  country  fell  in  the  battle  of  New- 
bury. 

Hyde  having  recovered  his  spirits,  again  entered  the 
married  state,  and  formed  a  most  auspicious  union,  which 
proved  the  great  solace  of  his  life.  The  lady  was  Frances, 
daughter  of  Sir  Thomas  Aylesbury,  Master  of  the  Mint. 
Having  been  his  companion  in  all  the  vicissitudes  of  his 
fortune, — having  lived  with  him  in  exile,  sharing  in  his 
dangers  and  privations,  and  with  difficulty  providing  food 
and  raiment  for  their  children, — she  was  preserved  to  see 
him  Earl  of  Clarendon,  Lord  Chancellor,  and  Prime  Min- 
ister of  England. 

His  happiness  was  in  a  few  months  interrupted  by  the 
sudden  death  of  his  father.  Burnet  relates  that,  walk- 
ing in  the  fields  together,  the  old  gentleman  warned  him 
of  the  disposition  then  observable  among  lawyers  to 
stretch  law  and  prerogative  to  the  prejudice  of  the  sub- 
ject; charged  him  if  he  ever  grew  to  any  eminence  in  his 
profession,  that  he  should  never  sacrifice  the  laws  and 
liberties  of  his  country  to  his  own  interests,  or  to  the  will 
of  a  Prince ;  and  that,  having  repeated  this  twice,  he  im- 
mediately fell  into  a  fit  of  apoplexy,  of  which  he  died  in  a 
few  hours.2  Clarendon  himself  wrote  thus  to  a  friend: — 
"Without  one  minute's  warning  or  fear,  I  have  lost  the 
best  father  in  the  world,  the  sense  of  which  hath  been  so 
terrible  to  me,  that  I  was  enough  inclined  to  think  I  had 
nothing  to  do  but  to  follow  him." 

The  shock  being  over,  he  resolved  instead  of  renouncing 
the  world  and  living  in  retirement  on  his  small  estate,  to 
continue  to  cultivate  his  profession,  in  the  hope  of  rising 
to  eminence,  and  with  the  resolution  to  observe  the  dying 

1  In  Whitelock's  Memorials  we  have  an  amusing  extract  of  a  letter  ad- 
dressed to  him  in  the  country,  from  Hyde  in  the  Temple  : — "  Our  best  news 
is  that  we  have  good  wine  abundantly  come  over  ;  and  the  worst,  that  the 
plague  is  in  town,  and  no  Judges  die"  3  Burn.  Times,  i.  270. 


1633.]  EARL     OF    CLARENDON.  413 

injunction  of  his  father.  "  He  put  on  his  gown  as  soon  as 
he  was  called  to  the  bar,  and,  by  the  countenance  of  per- 
sons in  place  and  authority,  as  soon  engaged  himself  in  the 
business  of  the  profession  as  he  put  on  his  gown,  and  to 
that  degree  in  practice  that  gave  little  time  for  study 
that  he  had  too  much  neglected  before."1  He  would  not 
submit  to.  the  drudgery  of  "  riding  a  circuit," — which  he 
afterwards  lamented,  "  both  because  it  would  have  im- 
proved his  acquaintance  with  various  classes  of  his  coun- 
trymen, and  because  there  is  a  very  good  and  necessary 
part  of  learning  in  the  law  which  is  not  so  easily  got  any 
other  way;"2  but  he  regularly  attended  the  Courts  at 
Westminster,  and  diligently  devoted  himself  to  the  busi- 
ness of  any  clients  who  employed  him.  Though  not 
much  of  a  lawyer  compared  with  the  black-letter  men  of 
those  days,  he  could,  by  his  books  and  his  friends,  get  up 
a  respectable  argument,  even  against  Selden  or  Noy, 
and  having  a  much  better  delivery,  he  was  sometimes 
thought  by  the  by-standers  to  be  superior  to  them  in 
learning  as  well  as  eloquence.  He  lived  handsomely  in 
London,  and  exercised  a  distinguished  hospitality  at  his 
house  in  Wiltshire;  but,  though  he  was  rather  fond  of 
talking  of  wines  and  dishes,  he  was  very  temperate,  and 
generally  abstained  from  supper,  the  meal  at  which  those 
who  were,  fond  of  good  living  most  indulged. 

His  growing  eminence  appears  from  the  fact  that  at  the 
grand  masque  given  by  the  Inns  of  Court  to  the  Queen, 
which  we  have  several  times  had  occasion  to  allude  to, 
the  task  was  allotted  to  him,  along  with  Whitelock,  of 
conferring  with  the  Lord  Chamberlain  and  the  Comp- 
troller of  the  household,  and  taking  order  about  the 
scenery  and  preparations  in  the  banqueting  house,  and  he 
was  deputed  by  the  Middle  Temple  to  the  office  of  re- 
turning thanks  in  the  name  of  the  four  Inns  of  Court  to 
the  King  and  Queen,  "  for  their  gracious  acceptance  of  the 
tender  of  their  services  in  the  late  masque."  ' 

1  Life,  iii.  974,  975. 

2  Ibid.  i.  32.     He  regretted  the  want  of  this  practice  so  much,   that  he 
meant  to  have  joined  a  circuit,  when  the  troubles  broke  out. 

3  As  this  is,  I  trust,  my  last  notice  of  this  performance,  I  may  be  permitted 
to  say  I  am  sorry,  for  the  credit  of  the  Inns  of  Court,  that  they  were  obHged 
to  apply  to   Shirley  the  poet,  to  write  them  "  The  Trumpet  of  Peace,"  the 
masque  then  exhibited  to  show  their  detestation  of  the  Histriomastix,  and  of 
the    coarse    words  supposed  to  be  applied  to  the    Queen    for  her  love    of 
theatricals ;  but  they  escape  the  disgrace  of  Shirley's  ironical  dedication  of 


414          CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    II.       [1633. 

In  this  mixture  of  business  and  pleasure  some  years 
rolled  on,  by  far  the  happiest  period  of  the  life  of  Claren- 
don. "  With  an  excellent  wife,  who  perfectly  resigned 
herself  to  him,  and  who  then  had  brought  him,  before 
any  troubles  in  the  kingdom,  three  sons  and  a  daughter, 
which  he  then  and  ever  looked  upon  as  his  greatest  bless- 
ing and  consolation,"  :  his  practice  steadily  increased,  par- 
ticularly before  the  Privy  Council ;  he  was  respected  by 
his  own  profession ;  he  kept  up  an  intercourse  with  men 
eminent  in  literature;  he  was  countenanced  by  powerful 
courtiers ;  and  he  had  before  him  a  fair  prospect  of  reach- 
ing the  highest  honors  of  his  profession. 

The  system  of  ruling  by  prerogative  alone  having  been 
pursued  ever  since  he  was  of  age,  he  had  no  opportunity 
of  acquiring  parliamentary  reputation.  In  his  heart 
he  highly  disapproved  of  "  ship-money,"  and  the  arbi- 
trary proceedings  of  the  Star  Chamber ;  but  he  was  mod- 
erate in  his  principles  and  cautious  in  his  conversation, 
and  trying  to  live  well  with  both  parties.  I  do  not  find 
that  he  was  employed  in  any  of  the  celebrated  political 
cases  which  then  attracted  the  attention  of  the  nation. 
However,  in  a  dispute  which  the  merchants  of  London 
had  with  the  Treasury  as  to  their  being  compelled  to 
unload  their  goods  at  a  particular  quay,  Hyde  was  their 
counsel,  and  he  here  displayed  what  was  considered  great 
courage  against  the  government.  This  introduced  him  to 
Archbishop  Laud,  then  chief  Commissioner  of  the  Treas- 
ury, who  wished  to  see  the  young  lawyer  who  was  not 
afraid  to  plead  the  cause  of  the  merchants,  "  when  all 
men  of  name  durst  not  appear  for  them."  Hyde  conse- 
quently went  to  the  Archbishop,  whom  he  found  alone  in 
his  garden  at  Lambeth,  v/as  received  very  civilly,  and  was 
afterwards  treated  by  him  with  condescension  and  kind- 
ness.1 Those  who  regret  the  strong  high  church  bias 
which  he  afterwards  displayed,  impute  it  to  the  impres- 

the  "  Bird  in  a  Cage"  to  Prynne,  then  in  gaol  under  the  inhuman  sentence  of 
the  Star  Chamber — congratulating  him  on  his  "  happy  retirement." 

1  Life,  i.  75. 

2  I  am  glad  to  say  a  good  word  for  LAUD  when  it  is  in  my  power,  and  he 
certainly  deserves  credit  for  his  patronage  of  merit.     He  brought  into  notice 
JEREMY  TAYLOR  ;  and  though  the  fantasy  must  be  condemned  of  making 
Bishop  JUXON  Lord  High  Treasurer,  it  should  be  recollected  that  this  prelate 
not  only  kept  the  best  appointed  pack  of  foxhounds  in  England,  but  was  a 
most  kind-hearted,  pious  man,  and  so  inoffensive  that  even  faction  could  not 
find  fault  with  him. 


1640.]  EARL     OF    CLARENDON.  415 

sion  now  made  upon  him  by  his  visits  to  Lambeth,  and 
think  it  might  have  been  better  for  the  cause  of  religion 
in  England  if  he  had  been  thrown  into  the  company  of 
Bishop  Williams,  Ex-Keeper  of  the  Great  Seal,  who  was 
then  leading  the  opposition  against  ceremonies  and  doc- 
trines which  he  contended  led  directly  to  Romanism. 

At  last  Charles  was  driven  to  call  a  Parliament,  and 
Hyde  was  in  such  good  repute  in  his  own  country  that  he 
was  returned  both  by  Shaftesbury  and  Wootton  Basset. 
He  made  his  election  to  serve  for  the  latter  town,  which 
had  likewise  the  honor  of  first  sending  to  the  House  of 
Commons,  Twiss,  the  eminent  lawyer,  and  the  biographer  of 
Lord  Eldon.  Hyde's  public  career  now  begins,  and  he 
certainly  started  with  most  enlightened  and  praiseworthy 
views.  A  friend  to  the  monarchy,  he  deeply  regretted  the 
abuses  which  had  been  practiced  in  the  name  of  prerogative, 
and  was  eager  to  correct  them.  For  this  purpose  he  asso- 
cia.ted  himself  with  Pym,  Rudyard,  Whitelock,  and  the 
most  experienced  statesmen  and  lawyers,  who,  during  this 
"  short  parliament,"  co-operated  with  him  in  the  same 
cause. 

He  had  the  honor  of  striking  the  first  blow  in  the 
House  at  a  specific  grievance.  This  was  by  a  motion  for 
papers  respecting  the  Court  of  Honor,  or  Earl  Marshal's 
Court,  which,  under  pretense  of  guarding  heraldic  distinc- 
tions, had  become  a  powerful  engine  of  oppression.  He 
mentioned  several  instances  with  decisive  effect.  A  citi- 
zen was  ruinously  fined  by  this  Court,  because,  in  an 
altercation  with  an  insolent  waterman  who  wished  to 
impose  upon  him,  he  deridingly  called  the  swan  on  his 
badge  "  a  goose."  The  case  was  brought  within  the  juris- 
diction of  the  Court  by  showing  that  the  waterman  was  an 
earl's  servant,  and  that  the  swan  was  the  earl's  crest. 
The  citizen  was  severely  punished  for  "dishonoring"  this 
crest. — Again,  a  tailor  who  had  often  very  submissively 
asked  payment  of  his  bill  from  a  customer  of  gentle  blood, 
whose  pedigree  was  duly  registered  at  the  Heralds'  Col- 
lege, on  a  threat  of  personal  violence  for  his  importunity, 
was  provoked  into  saying  that  "  he  was  as  good  a  man  as 
his  debtor."  For  this  offense,  which  was  alleged  to  be  a 
leveling  attack  upon  the  aristocracy,  he  was  summoned 
before  the  Earl  Marshal's  Court,  and  mercifully  dismissed 
with  a  reprimand — on  releasing  the  debt.  While  the 


416          CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    II.      [1640. 

House  was  thus  amused  and  excited,  Hyde  successfully 
concluded  his  maiden  speech  by  telling  them  that  not 
only  was  this  Court  oppressive  to  the  humbler  classes, 
but  that  its  exactions  were  onerous  to  the  nobility  them- 
selves, and  to  the  whole  body  of  the  gentry  of  England.' 

So  active  was  he,  that  his  name  is  to  be  found  in  seven 
of  the  twenty-one  select  committees  which  were  appointed 
during  the  sixteen  days  the  commons  sat,  including  "  the 
committee  of  privileges  and  elections,"  "  the  committee 
on  ship-money,"  and  "  the  committee  to  inquire  into  the 
proceedings  of  the  convocation  and  innovations  in  mat- 
ters of  religion." 

Very  soon  after  he  showed  his  moderation  by  support- 
ing the  Court  on  the  grand  question  of  supply.  An  indis- 
creet message  had  been  brought  down  from  the  King, 
demanding  twelve  subsidies  to  be  paid  in  three  years,  and 
making  the  abolition  of  ship-money  depend  upon  this 
specific  grant.  Hampden,  described  as  being  now  "  the 
most  popular  man  in  the  House,"  dexterously  demanded 
that  the  question  to  be  put  might  be,  "  Whether  the 
House  would  consent  to  the  proposition  made  by  the 
King  as  it  was  contained  in  the  message?" — so  as  to  insure 
the  rejection  of  the  King's  proposition. 

Hyde,  not  dreading  the  collusion  into  which  he  was 
brought,  nor  the  misconstruction  to  which  he  might  be 
liable,  with  great  moral  courage  desired  that  the  question, 
as  proposed  by  Mr.  Hampden,  might  not  be  put.  He 
argued  that  "it  was  a  captious  question,  to  which  only 
one  sort  of  men  could  clearly  give  their  vote,  which  were 
they  for  rejecting  the  King's  proposition  and  no  more  re- 
suming the  debate  upon  that  subject ;  but  that  they  who 
desired  to  give  the  King  a  supply,  as  he  believed  most 
did,  though  not  in  such  a  proportion,  nor  it  may  be  in  that 
manner,  could  receive  no  satisfaction  from  that  question  ; 
and  therefore  he  proposed,  to  the  end  that  every  man 
might  frankly  give  his  yea  or  his  no,  that  the  question 
might  be  put  only  upon  the  giving  the  King  a  supply."3 

There  were  loud  cries  for  Mr.  Hyde's  question,  when 
old  Sir  Harry  Vane,  the  Treasurer  of  the  household  (as 

1  Com.  Jour.  April  18,  1640.  The  business  only  began  on  the  i6th  of 
April,  after  the  choice  of  the  Speaker. 

•  Hist.  Reb.  b.  i.  This  is  the  mode  in  which  the  question  is  now  put,  the 
motion  being  "  that  a  supply  be  granted  to  her  Majesty." 


1640.]  EARL     OF    CLARENDON.  417 

some  thought  treacherously),  declared  that  there  would 
be  no  use  in  that  question,  for  he  had  authority  to  say 
that  a  supply  would  not  be  accepted  by  his  Majesty  if  it 
were  not  granted  in  the  proportion  and  manner  proposed 
in  his  message.  Hyde  therefore  no  longer  pressed  his 
amendment,  and  the  debate  on  the  general  question  was 
adjourned  till  the  following  day,  the  courtiers  threatening 
an  immediate  dissolution. 

Hyde,  foreseeing  the  fatal  consequences  of  such  a  step, 
instantly  repaired  to  Laud,  on  whose  advice,  in  the  ab- 
sence of  Strafford,  it  was  supposed  the  King  would  act, 
and  finding  him  in  his  garden  at  Lambeth,  told  him  he 
feared  a  dissolution  was  meditated,  and  that  "he  came 
only  to  beseech  him  to  use  all  his  credit  to  prevent  such  a 
desperate  counsel,  which  would  produce  great  mischief  to 
the  King  and  to  the  Church,  assuring  him  that  the  House 
was  as  well  constituted  and  disposed  as  ever  House  of 
Commons  was  or  would  be."  The  Archbishop  heard  him 
patiently,  but  differed  from  him  entirely  as  to  the  dispo- 
sition of  the  House,  and  affected  to  say  that  he  would 
not  advise  a  dissolution,  but  neither  would  he  counsel  the 
King  against  it. 

On  returning  to  the  House  from  this  interview,  Hyde 
was  more  grieved  than  surprised  by  the  Black  Rod's  sum- 
mons for  "the  Commons  forthwith  to  attend  his  Majesty 
in  the  House  of  Lords,  and  by  there  hearing  him,  with 
expressions  of  high  displeasure,  dissolve  the  parliament. 

All  were  struck  with  consternation,  except  a  few  hot- 
headed courtiers  and  some  deep  designing  men,  who  did 
not  wish  to  obtain  redress  by  temperate  means,  and  were 
desirous  of  aggravating  dissensions  between  the  parlia- 
ment and  the  Crown,  with  a  view  to  important  organic 
changes  in  the  constitution.  One  of  these  was  Oliver  St. 
John,  who,  with  an  air  of  unusual  cheerfulness,  rriet  Hyde 
an  hour  after  the  dissolution,  and  hearing  him  deplore  the 
unseasonable  dismissal  of  "  so  wise  a  parliament,"  answered 
with  warmth — "All  is  well:  it  must  be  worse  before  it 
can  better:  this  parliament  would  never  have  done  what 
must  be  done  before  it  is  merry  in  England." 

"  No  man  can  show  me,"  wrote  Clarendon,  when,  after 

the  lapse  of  many   years,  he  recalled  this   scene    to  his 

memory,  "  a  source  from  whence  these  waters  of  bitterness 

we  now  taste  have  more  probably  flowed  than  from  these 

in. — 27 


4i8          CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    II.       [1640 

unseasonable,  unskillful,  and  precipitate  dissolutions  of 
parliament." ' 

To  his  unspeakable  grief,  this  dissolution  was  immedi- 
ately followed  by  measures  which  indicated  a  determina- 
tion that  parliament  should  never  meet  again, — popular 
leaders  being  committed  to  the  Fleet  for  refusing  to  dis- 
close what  had  passed  in  the  House, — ship-money  being 
exacted  more  rigorously  than  before, — a  new  tax  being 
levied  on  the  counties  under  the  name  of  "  Coat  and  Con- 
duct Money," — and  four  aldermen  of  London  being  being 
sent  to  gaol  for  declining  to  contribute  to  a  forced  loan  in 
the  City. 

But  before  the  end  of  the  same  year  it  was  found,  that 
if  the  King  had  attempted  to  trust  longer  to  mere  pre- 
rogative he  would  have  ceased  to  reign. 

Hyde  sat  in  the  Long  Parliament  for  the  borough  of 
Saltash.  His  conduct  in  the  first  session  of  it  entitles 
him  to  be  placed  in  the  first  rank  of  English  Reformers. 
He  began  by  sacrificing  his  lucrative  profession  to  the  dis- 
charge of  his  public  duties.  Without  office,  or  any  im- 
mediate prospect  of  political  preferment,  he  left  the  bar, 
reserving  to  himself  the  right  to  return  to  it  in  quieter 
times,  and  he  bent  the  whole  energies  of  his  mind  to  the 
constitutional  correction  of  existing  abuses.  While  he 
zealously  supported  the  great  measures  brought  forward 
by  others  for  abolishing  the  Star  Chamber  and  High  Com- 
mission, for  determining  the  boundaries  of  the  royal  forests, 
for  preventing  the  arbitrary  levy  of  customs  upon  mer- 
chandise, and  for  insuring  the  frequent  meeting  of  parlia- 
ments, he  himself  originated  and  carried  through  several 
very  important  reforms. 

He  began  with  his  old  subject,  the  Earl  Marshal's  Court, 
and  moved  for  a  select  committee  to  inquire  into  its  op- 
pressions. This  obnoxious  tribunal  had  not  relaxed  in 
its  mischievous  activity  since  its  recent  exposure,  and 
Hyde,  who  now  "spake  smartly  and  ingeniously,"8  said, 
that  for  words  of  supposed  defamation,  of  which  the  law 
took  no  notice,  more  damages  had  been  given  by  the  sole 
judgment  of  the  Earl  Marshal  in  two  days,  than  by  juries 
in  all  the  actions  tried  in  all  the  Courts  in  Westminster 
Hall  during  a  whole  term.  He  further  proved,  that  the 

1  Hist.  Reb.  b.  i.  Charles  had  little  regarded  the  dying;  advice  of  Lord 
Keeper  Coventry,  ante,  Vol.  III.  Ch.  LXII.  *  Whit.  Mem.  50. 


1640.]  EARL     OF    CLARENDON.  4i9 

supposed  Court  was  a  mere  usurpation  during  the  present 
reign,  the  earliest  precedent  of  its  having  entertained  a 
suit  for  words  being  in  the  year  1633.  The  committee 
reported,  "  that  the  Constable's  and  Earl  Marshal's  Court 
has  no  jurisdiction  to  hold  plea  of  words,  that  the  Earl 
Marshal  can  make  no  Court  without  the  Constable,  and 
that  the  Earl  Marshal's  Court  is  a  grievance."  The  report 
was  adopted  by  the  house;  and  so  palpable  was  the 
usurpation  which,  unchecked,  might  have  been  confirmed 
by  usage,  that  the  Earl  Marshal  begged  pardon  for  what 
he  had  done,  throwing  the  blame  upon  his  advisers,  and, 
without  any  bill  to  abolish  it,  "  the  Court  never  presumed 
to  sit  afterwards." 

Hyde  was  a  member  of  the  committee  for  inquiring  into 
the  illegal  conduct  of  the  Judges  respecting  ship-money, 
and  assisted  Lord  Falkland  in  preparing  the  charges 
against  Lord  Keeper  Finch.  He  presented  from  this  com- 
mittee a  report  which  so  deeply  implicated  Mr.  Justice 
Berkely,  that  the  learned  Judge,  while  sitting  in  the 
Court  of  King's  Bench  in  his  robes,  was  arrested,  and 
brought  away  prisoner  through  Westminster  Hall,  then 
full  of  people.  But  his  unmeasured  exposure  of  "judicial 
delinquency  "  was  at  a  conference  with  the  Lords  respect- 
ing the  Barons  of  the  Exchequer,  which  he  thus  began  : 
"  My  Lords,  there  can  not  be  a  greater  instance  of  a  sick 
and  languishing  commonwealth  than  the  business  of  this 
day.  Good  God !  how  have  the  guilty  these  late  years 
been  punished,  when  the  Judges  themselves  have  been 
such  delinquents?  It  is  no  marvel  that  an  irregular,  ex- 
travagant, arbitrary  power,  like  a  torrent,  hath  broken  in 
upon  us,  when  our  banks  and  our  bulwarks,  the  laws,  were 
in  the  custody  of  such  persons.  Men  who  had  lost  their 
innocence  could  not  preserve  their  courage ;  nor  could  we 
look  that  they  who  had  so  visibly  undone  us,  themselves 
should  have  the  virtue  or  credit  to  rescue  us  from  the 
oppression  of  other  men.  It  was  said  by  one  who  always 
spoke  excellently,  that  the  twelve  Judges  were  like  the 
twelve  lions  under  the  throne  of  Solomon, — under  the 
throne  in  obedience,  but  yet  lions.  Your  Lordships  shall 
this  day  hear  of  six,  who  (be  they  what  they  will  be  else) 
were  no  lions ;  who  upon  vulgar  fears  delivered  up  the 
precious  forts  they  were  trusted  with  almost  without  as- 
sault, and  in  a  tame  and  easy  trance  of  flattery  and  servi- 


420          CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    II.      [1640. 

tude,  lost  and  forfeited  (shamefully  forfeited)  that  reputa- 
tion, awe,  and  reverence  which  the  wisdom,  courage,  and 
gravity  of  their  venerable  predecessors  had  contracted 
and  fastened  to  the  places  they  now  hold  ;  and  even 
rendered  that  study  and  profession,  which  in  all  ages  hath 
been,  and  I  hope  now  shall  be,  of  an  honorable  estima- 
tion, so  contemptible  and  vile,  that  had  not  this  blessed 
day  come,  all  men  would  have  had  this  quarrel  to  the 
law  itself,  which  Marius  had  to  the  Greek  tongue,  who 
thought  it  a  mockery  to  learn  that  language,  the  masters 
whereof  lived  in  bondage  under  others.  But  it  is  in  your 
Lordships'  power  (and  I  am  sure  it  is  in  your  Lordships' 
will)  to  restore  the  dejected,  broken  people  of  this  island 
to  their  former  joy  and  security,  the  successors  of  these 
men  to  their  own  privilege  and  veneration,  et  sepultas 
prope  leges  revocare"1  Having  dwelt  upon  the  resolution 
in  favor  of  ship-money,  which  he  denounced  as  "  a 
prodigy  of  crime,"  he  came  to  the  misconduct  of  the 
Barons,  in  going  so  far  as  to  deny  the  subject  the  oppor- 
tunity of  being  heard  against  the  illegal  increase  of  duties 
on  importations,  by  refusing  replevies,  and  in  sanctioning 
i  the  levy  of  tonnage  and  poundage  without  authority  of 
parliament. — If  we  do  not  altogether  approve  his  rhe- 
torical figures,  we  can  not  but  admire  his  sentiments,  and 
the  boldness  and  vehemence  with  which  he  urged  them. 
The  known  moderation  of  his  character  gave  additional 
weight  to  his  efforts  against  the  Judges,  and  he  was 
mainly  instrumental  in  bringing  down  punishment  upon 
them,  and  in  procuring  the  condemnation  of  the  slavish 
doctrines  which  they  had  inculcated. 

The  next  subject  which  he  took  up  was  "  the  Council 
of  the  North,"  which  had  been  established  by  Henry 
VIII.  after  an  insurrection,  and  being  continued  without 
any  regard  to  the  rules  of  the  common  law,  had  become, 
— particularly  under  the  presidency  of  the  Earl  of  Straf- 
ford,— a  scourge  to  the  northern  counties.  He  clearly 
showed  its  illegality  and  its  mischiefs, — and  after  a  coji- 
ference  with  the  Lords,  in  which  he  made  another  long 
speech  against  it,  he  procured  its  suppression. 

He  testified  his  sincere  desire  of  a  peaceable  settlement 
by  earnestly  joining  in  the  negotiations  with  the  mer- 
chants in  the  city  to   raise  money  for  paying  the  arrears 
1  Rushw.  iv.  333. 


1641.]  EARL     OF    CLARENDON.  421 

due  to  the  Scottish  army,  and  enabling  them  to  return  to 
their  own  country,  although  the  more  violent  party  wished 
them  to  remain  as  a  check  upon  the  King;  and  Strode 
said  publicly  in  the  House,  "  We  can  not  yet  spare  the 
Scotch  ;  the  sons  of  Zeruiah  are  too  strong  for  us." 

A  controversy  has  arisen  respecting  the  part  taken  by 
Hyde  in  the  prosecution  of  the  Earl  of  Strafford.  In  his 
account  of  it  in  the  History  of  the  Rebellion,  he  never 
once  introduces  his  own  name,  and  he  censures  those  who 
conducted  it.  But  though  he  thought  fit  thus  to  write 
long  after  the  event,  there  can  not  be  a  doubt  that  he,  as 
well  as  Lord  Falkland,  at  the  meeting  of  the  Long  Par- 
liament, looked  with  abhorrence  upon  the  apostate  who 
had  systematically  attempted  to  establish  despotism  in 
England  and  in  Ireland — that  they  both  thought  he  de- 
served death,  or  reconciled  it  to  their  consciences  that  he 
ought  to  die,  on  the  ground  that  his  existence  was  incom- 
patible with  the  public  safety, — and  that  they  both  were 
instrumental  in  bringing  him  to  the  scaffold. 

Hyde,  when  denouncing  that  unconstitutional  tribunal, 
the  Council  of  the  North,  inveighed  bitterly  against  the 
tyranny  of  the  Earl  of  Strafford  as  its  President.  When, 
in  the  course  of  the  impeachment,  a  difficulty  arose  as  to 
the  attendance  of  members  of  the  House  of  Commons  as 
witnesses  in  the  House  of  Lords,  he  was  one  of  the  com- 
mittee of  seven  by  whose  assistance  the  difficulty  was  re- 
moved. He  was  originally  a  member  of  the  committee 
to  prepare  the  charge  against  Strafford  (morally  speaking, 
the  blackest  of  all) — for  his  illegal  judgment  of  death  by 
a  court-martial  on  Lord  Mountnorris,  and  he  was  added 
to  the  committee  of  impeachment  for  the  examination  of 
the  serious  charge  brought  forward  by  the  petition  of 
Lord  Langdale.  He  acted  as  chief  manager  in  a  confer- 
ence with  the  Lords,  with  the  view  of  sequestrating  Straf- 
ford from  his  offices  while  the  prosecution  was  pending, — 
and  he  was  added  to  a  committee  for  expediting  the  trial. 
But  what  shows  even  personal  animosity  and  vindictive- 
ness  is,  that  Hyde  took  an  active  part  in  discovering  and 
counteracting  the  plan  that  was  formed  to  enable  Straf- 
ford, like  Lord  Keeper  Finch  and  Secretary  Windebank, 
to  escape  beyond  the  seas.  He  communicated  the  name 
of  a  suspected  ship,  in  consequence  of  which  an  examina- 
tion took  place  before  the  House  of  the  master  of  the 


422         CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    II.       [1641. 

ship,  and  of  the  Lieutenant  of  the  Tower,  and  he  willingly 
bore  a  message  to  the  Lords  from  the  Commons,  "  that 
they  have  received  information,  and  have  reason  to  be- 
lieve it  to  be  true,  that  the  Earl  of  Strafford  intends  to 
make  his  escape  out  of  the  Tower;  and  that  there  are 
ships,  or  a  ship,  ready  in  the  river  of  Thames,  at  Tilbury- 
hope,  to  convey  him  away  ;  and  further,  they  are  informed 
that  the  doors  of  the  Tower  are  not  well  guarded.  There- 
fore, they  desire  their  Lordships  would  take  order  that 
the  Earl  of  Strafford  may  be  close  prisoner,  and  to  have 
the  Tower  better  guarded  than  now  it  is."  ' 

That  Hyde  zealously  favored  the  proceeding  while  in 
the  shape  of  impeachment,  is  demonstrated  by  direct, 
positive,  and  incontrovertible  evidence.  I  think  there  is 
as  little  doubt  that  he  supported  the  bill  of  attainder, 
although  here  the  evidence  is  only  negative  and  circum- 
stantial. He  must  have  divided  upon  the  bill,  and  a  list 
was  published  of  the  members  who  voted  against  it,  under 
the  title  of  "  Straffordians,"  among  whom  he  is  not  found. 
Lord  Falkland  actually  spoke  in  favor  of  the  bill ;  and 
Hyde  himself  says  that  the  question  respecting  the  ex- 
clusion of  the  Bishops  from  parliament,  which  arose 
afterwards,  was  the  first  question  on  which  they  had  ever 
differed. 

The  only  circumstance  that  has  a  contrary  aspect,  is  an 
anecdote  which  Hyde  himself  relates, — very  possibly  with 
the  view  of  conveying  the  impression  that  he  was  hostile 
to  the  bill, — but  which,  giving  full  credit  to  it,  is  per- 
fectly consistent  with  the  notion  that  his  hostility  to 
Strafford  remained  unabated  to  the  last.  After  the  severe 
duty  of  attendance  in  parliament,  beginning  at  eight  in 
the  morning,  the  members  of  both  Houses,  and  of  both 
parties,  used  occasionally  to  recreate  themselves  by  a 
little  country  excursion  in  the  afternoon  to  "  Pick- 
adilly,  which  was  a  fair  house  for  entertainment 
and  gaming,  with  handsome  gravel  walks  and  shade, 
and  where  were  an  upper  and  lower  bowling-green." 
One  afternoon,  Hyde,  being  here  to  recruit  after  a  long 
speech  he  had  made  in  the  morning,  was  acosted  by  the  Earl 
of  Bedford,  who,  sincerely  wishing  to  save  Strafford,  pro- 
posed the  milder  course  of  making  him  incapable  of  all 
future  employment,  said  that  he  should  not  despair  if  he 

1  Com.  Jour. 


1641.]  EARL     OF    CLARENDON.  423 

could  persuade  the  Earl  of  Essex  to  comply,  and  ended 
with  entreating  Hyde  to  employ  persuasions  to  the  same 
effect.  Essex  coming  up,  Bedford  left  them  alone  to- 
gether, and,  falling  upon  the  pending  bill  of  attainder, 
Hyde  observed  that  "  there  was  a  disagreement  upon  the 
point  of  treason,  but  if  they  declined  that,  they  should  all 
agree  that  there  were  crimes  and  misdemeanors  evidently 
enough  proved  to  deserve  so  severe  a  censure  as  would 
absolutely  take  away  all  power  from  the  Earl  of  Strafford 
that  might  prove  dangerous  to  the  kingdom."  Essex's 
laconic  reply  was, — "Stone-dead  hath  no  fellow."1  But 
Hyde  might  surely  oblige  the  Earl  of  Bedford  by  sound- 
ing a  powerful  leader  of  the  popular  party  in  the  Lords,  as 
to  the  expediency  of  a  less  rigorous  course  against  the 
great  state  delinquent,  without  having  altered  his  own 
opinion  that  he  should  suffer  as  a  traitor ;  and  we  must  ever 
remember  that  if  he  had  taken  a  different  part  from  Lord 
Falkland  upon  this  subject,  his  name  would  have  been 
among  "  the  Straffordians."  It  certainly  does  astonish  us 
that  such  men,  however  they  may  have  condemned  the 
conduct  of  Strafford,  could  bring  themselves  to  believe 
that  he  was  guilty  of  the  crime  of  high  treason ;  for  they 
could  hardly  have  been  deceived  by  the  wicked  sophistry 
of  St.  John,  that  an  attempt  to  subvert  the  fundamental 
laws  of-  the  kingdom  was  high  treason  at  common-law, 
and  still  remains  so, — or  by  the  base  opinion  delivered  by 
the  Judges,  that  this  amounts  to  high  treason  under  the 
statute  of  Edward  III.  But  we  ought  to  decide  upon 
acts  according  to  the  notions  of  the  enlightened  and  the 
honorable  in  the  times  when  they  were  committed,  and 
we  must  be  slow  to  reprobate  the  execution  of  Strafford, 
which  was  approved  by  Hyde  and  by  Falkland.1 

1  Hist.  Reb.  b.  i. 

2  Although  the  King's  death  was  the  act  of  a  small  section,  that  of  5 
ford  was  with  the  consent  of  the  great  bulk  of  the  nation.     The  recent  publi- 
cation, by  the  Camden  Society,  of  Sir  Ralph  Verney's  notes,  taken  in  pencil 
during  the  Long  Parliament,  affords  convincing  evidence  of  the  strong  part 
taken  by  Hyde  against  the  Court. 


424         CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    II.       [1641. 


CHAPTER    LXXV. 

CONTINUATION  OF  THE   LIFE   OF  LORD  CLARENDON  TILL 

HE  WAS  SENT  TO  BRISTOL  WITH  THE  CHARGE  OF 

PRINCE   CHARLES. 

IN  the  "  History  of  the  Rebellion  "  there  is  strong,  and 
I  think  just,  censure  thrown  upon  the  bill  which  was 
next  brought  forward  "  for  the  perpetual  parliament," 
as  it  was  afterwards  called  ;  but  there  is  as  little  doubt  that 
"the  noble  Historian"  not  only  acquiesced  in  it,  but  ap- 
plauded it.  He  says,  "it  is  not  credible  what  an  universal 
reception  and  concurrence  it  met  with,  although  it  was  to 
remove  the  landmarks  and  to  destroy  the  foundation  of 
the  kingdom."  The  truth  is,  that  he  and  others  saw  the 
mischiefs  which  arise  from  abrupt  dissolutions,  but  were 
blind  to  the  dangers  of  an  irresponsible  oligarchy  uncon- 
trollable by  constitutional  means — to  be  overthrown  only 
by  military  despotism.  It  is  deeply  to  be  regretted  that 
the  reasonable  amendment,  carried  in  the  Lords,  was  re- 
jected by  the  Lower  House, — limiting  the  operation  of  the 
bill  to  two  years, — within  which  time  it  might  have  been 
reasonably  expected  that  all  grievances  might  be  re- 
dressed, and  all  constitutional  controversies  adjusted, — so 
that  the  power  of  dissolving  the  parliament  might  be 
safely  restored  to  the  Crown. 

But  although  Hyde  was  carried  away  by  the  general 
impulse — when  the  bill  had  passed,  he  soon  saw  "  that  the 
Commons  now  that  they  could  not  be  dissolved  without 
their  own  consent  (the  apprehension  and  fear  whereof 
had  always  before  kept  them  within  some  bounds  of  mod- 
esty), they  called  any  power  they  pleased  to  assume  to 
themselves  a  branch  of  their  privileges  of  which  they 
were  the  only  proper  judges."  '  .  He  now  changed  his 
party,  but  (I  must  say),  without  being  at  all  liable  to  the 
imputation  of  a  change  from  mercenary  motives,  which 

1  Hist.  Reb.  b.  i.  The  House  resolved,  on  the  motion  of  Sergeant  Wilde, 
"  that  when  they  had  declared  what  was  the  law  of  the  land,  it  was  a  breach 
of  their  privileges  that  it  should  not  be  obeyed  ;"  and  this  doctrine  they  ap- 
plied even  to  their  right  to  issue  orders  to  raise  troops  in  the  King's  name  to 
fight  against  his  person. 


1641.]  EARL     OF    CLARENDON.  425 

.is  conveyed  by  the  modern  word  "ratting"  He  did 
not,  like  Wentvvorth,  barter  his  principles  for  preferment 
and  power.  He  thought,  very  plausibly,  that  enough 
had  been  done  to  redress  grievances,  and  that  the  danger 
now  was  from  popular  usurpation,  much  more  than  from 
an  extension  of  prerogative.  Whatever  opinion  might 
be  entertained  of  the  King's  sincerity  or  secret  inclina- 
tions, the  royal  assent  had  been  given  to  statutes  which, 
in  some  measure,  adapted  the  constitution  to  the  actual 
circumstances  of  the  country.  And  although  there  was  a 
pestilent  set  of  lawyers,  who  contended  that  acts  of  par- 
liament limiting  the  prerogative  were  not  binding,  the 
same  national  energy  which  had  extorted  these  acts  would 
have  been  ready  to  defend  them.  Hyde  threw  his  weight 
into  the  royal  scale,  that  it  might  not  kick  the  beam. 
He  says  that  his  resolution  was  much  strengthened  by 
conversations  he  had  about  this  time  with  some  of 
the_  popular  leaders  who  betrayed  their  anti-monarchi- 
cal views.  "I  do  not  think  one  man  wise  enough  to 
govern  us  ,all,"  said  Henry  Martin, — and  Fiennes,  at  this 
time  a  furious  presbyterian,  told  him  "  that  there  were 
many  who  would  encounter  the  worst  extremities  of  civil 
war  if  the  King  should  resist  the  abolition  of  episcopacy, 
for  that  there  was  a  great  number  of  good  men  who  wished 
to  lose  their  lives  before  they  would  ever  submit  to  that 
government."  : 

It  was  upon  a  church  question  that  he  split  with  his  old 
friends.  After  the  failure  of  the  first  attempt  to  exclude 
the  Bishops  from  parliament,  a  Select  Committee  had  re- 
ported, "  That  the  legislative  and  judicial  power  of 
Bishops  in  the  House  of  Peers  is  a  great  hindrance  to  the 
discharge  of  their  spiritual  functions,  prejudicial  to  the 
Commonwealth,  and  fit  to  be  taken  away."  Against  a 
bill  founded  on  this  resolution,  Hyde  made  an  earnest 
speech,  arguing  that  it  went  to  change  the  whole  frame 
and  constitution  of  the  kingdom,  and  of  the  parliament 
itself. 

Lord  Falkland  defended  it — according  to  Hyde — as  the 
only  expedient  to  save  the  church, — but  dealt  by  no 
means  tenderly  with  the  arguments  of  his  friend  against 
it,  and  boldly  insisted  that  both  on  spiritual  and  civil 
considerations  the  Bishops  ought  to  be  excluded. 

1  Life,  i.  92. 


426          CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    II.      [1641. 

This  encounter  in  debate  did  not  interrupt  their  friend- 
ship. After  the  difference  of  opinion  between  them  had 
for  a  short  time  extended  to  some  matters  of  minor  im- 
portance, it  entirely  vanished,  and  they  continued  ever 
after  politically,  as  well  as  personally,  united, — for  there 
was  now  manifested  a  clear  intention  to  upset  the  Church 
and  the  Monarchy. 

The  bill  for  excluding  the  Bishops  from  parliament  hav- 
ing passed  the  Commons,  it  was  followed  by  a  bill  "  for  the 
utter  abolishing  and  taking  away  of  all  Archbishops, 
Bishops,  their  Chancellors  and  Commissioners,  Deans  and 
Chapters,  Archdeacons,  Prebendaries,  Choristers,  and 
Canons,  and  other  under  Officers,  out  of  the  Church  ot 
England."  This  Hyde  strenuously  opposed,  but  the 
second  reading  was  carried  by  a  majority  of  139  to  108. 
When  it  got  into  a  committee  of  the  whole  House, — by 
way  of  a  manoeuvre,  that  he  might  be  silenced,  he  was 
placed  in  the  chair ;  but  he,  considering  counter-manoeu- 
vring pious  in  such  a  cause,  tells  us,  that  by  dexterous 
management  as  Chairman,  he  was  enabled  greatly  to  ob- 
truct  it,  and  as  it  contained  clauses  for  the  new  govern- 
ment of  the  Church,  about  which  few  were  agreed,  it  had 
made  but  little  progress  when  parliamentary  proceedings 
were  suspended  by  the  King's  journey  into  Scotland." 

Before  then  an  event  had  taken  place  which  had  a 
powerful  influence  on  the  destiny  of  Hyde.  He  had  held 
no  intercourse  with  the  Court,  and  there,  till  very  lately, 
he  had  been  regarded  with  bitter  aversion.  But  one  day, 
while  the  "  Episcopacy  Abolition  Bill  "  was  in  Committee, 
he  was  informed  by  Mr.  Percy,  brother  of  the  Earl  of 
Northumberland,  that  the  King  desired  to  speak  with 
him.  He  went,  and  the  following  is  his  account  of  the 
interview, — written,  however,  many  years  after.  Charles 
told  him  "  that  he  heard  from  all  hands  how  much  he  was 
beholden  to  him,  and  that  when  all  his  servants  in  the 

1  2  Parl.  Hist.  725,  792,  814,  916. 

2  While  this  committee  was  sitting,  he  continued  on  terms  of  great  cour- 
tesy with  the  promoters  of  the  bill.     He  says,  "  the  House  keeping  those  dis- 
orderly hours,  and  seldom  rising  till  after  four  of  the  clock  in  the  afternoon, 
they  frequently  importuned  him  to  dine  with  them  at  Mr.  Pym's  lodging, 
which  was  at  Sir  Richard  Manby's  house,  in  a  little  court  behind  Westmin- 
ster Hall,  where  he  and  Mr.  Hampden,  Sir  Arthur  Hazelrig,  and  two  or 
three  more,  upon  a  stock  kept  a  table  where  they  transacted  much  business, 
and  invited  thither  those  of  whose  conversion  they  had  any-hope." — It  ap- 
pears that  Hyde  often  accepted  the  invitation. — Life,  i.  80. 


1641.]  EARL     OF    CLARENDON.  427 

House  of  Commons  either  neglected  his  service  or  could 
not  appear  usefully  in  it,  he  took  all  occasion  to  do  him 
service  ;  for  which  he  thought  fit  to  give  'him  his  own 
thanks,  and  to  assure  him  that  he  would  remember  it  to 
his  advantage.  The  King  took  notice  of  his  affection  for 
the  Church,  for  which  he  said  he  thanked  him  more  than 
all  the  rest,  which  the  other  acknowledged  with  all  the 
duty  that  became  him,  and  said  that  he  was  very  happy 
that  his  Majesty  was  pleased  with  what  he  did  ;  but  tf  he 
had  commanded  him  to  have  withdrawn  his  affection  and 
reverence  for  the  CJiurch^  he  would  not  have  obeyed  hint, 
which,  his  Majesty  said,  made  him  love  him  the  better. 
Then  he  discoursed  of  the  passion  of  the  House,  and  of 
the  bill  then  brought  in  against  Episcopacy,  and  asked 
him  whether  he  thought  they  would  be  able  to  carry  it? 
To  which  he  answered,  that  he  believed  they  could  not ; 
at  least,  that  it  would  be  very  long  first.  '  Nay,'  replied 
the  King,  '  if  you  will  look  to  it,  that  they  do  not  carry  it 
be'fore  I  go  for  Scotland,  which  will  be  when  the  armies 
~re  disbanded,  I  will  undertake  for  the  Church  after  that 
time.'  '  Why,  then,'  said  the  other,  'by  the  grace  of  God, 
it  will  not  be  in  much  danger.'  With  which  the  King 
was  well  pleased,  and  dismissed  him  with  very  gracious 
expressions."1 

Hyde  was  now  a  regular  adherent  to  the  royal  cause, 
and  if  we  forget  the  insincerity  of  Charles  and  the  sup- 
posed necessity  of  imposing  harder  conditions  for  securing 
what  had  been  obtained,  we  should  be  disposed  severely  to 
blame  those  who  wished  still  further  to  humble  the  Crown  : 
but  Hampden  and  Whitelock,  who  were  attached  to  the 
constitution,  and  who,  at  the  opening  of  the  parliament, 
had  hardly  differed  from  any  sentiment  of  Hyde  and 
Falkland,  remained  unsatisfied ;  and  as  they  well  knew 
the  character  of  the  King  and  the  circumstances  of  the 
times,  we  must  be  slow  to  blame  the  course  which  they 
adopted.  It  led  in  the  result  to  civil  war;  but  if  Charles 
had  been  allowed  quietly  to  carry  into  effect  his  plans  in 
Scotland,  and  with  a  well  supplied  treasury  to  support  an 
army  in  England, — all  the  bills  to  which  he  had  recently 
assented  might  have  been  treated  like  the  Petition  of 
Right ;  he  might  have  wreaked  the  vengeance  which  he 
certainly  meditated  upon  the  popular  leaders ;  and  he 

1  Life,  i.  93. 


428          CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    II.      [1641. 

might  finally  have  triumphed  over  the  liberties  of  this 
country. 

With  a  view  to  check  the  reaction  which  was  very  per- 
ceptible in  the  King's  favor  on  his  return  from  Scotland, 
the  famous  "  Remonstrance  "  was  moved, — recapitulating 
in  harsh  language  all  the  errors  of  his  reign,  and  all  the 
grievances  -under  which  the  people  had  labored.  This 
Hyde  strenuously  opposed  as  unnecessary  and  insulting, 
and  it  was  carried  only  by  a  small  majority.1  A  ques- 
tion then  arose  as  to  whether  it  should  be  published 
before  it  was  communicated  to  the  Lords ;  and  he  was 
in  great  danger  of  being  sent  to  the  Tower  for  having  pro- 
posed, after  the  fashion  of  the  Lords,  to  enter  a  protest 
against  a  resolution  to  that  effect. 

He  now  wrote  his  maiden  state  paper  in  the  royal 
cause,  which  was  a  manifesto  in  the  King's  name,  in 
answer  to  the  "  Remonstrance,"  He  says,  that  he  first 
sketched  it  as  an  exercise  without  any  thought  of  its 
being  used  ;  but  showing  it  to  some  friends,  it  was  carried 
to  the  King,  who  was  highly  pleased  with  it,  and  adopted 
it.  The  tone  of  it  is  certainly  excellent,  and  if  the  compo- 
sition be  not  quite  pure,  it  is  at  any  rate  in  better  taste 
than  the  addresses  of  the  parliament. 

Falkland  and  Colepeper  were  now  introduced  into  office 
as  Secretary  of  State  and  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer, 
and  the  King  again  sending  for  Hyde  told  him,  in  the 
presence  of  the  Queen,  "  that  he  was  much  beholden  to 
him  for  many  good  services ;  and  that  now  he  had  pre- 
ferred two  of  his  friends,  it  was  time  to  give  him  some  testi- 
mony of  his  favor,  and  therefore  he  had  sent  for  him  to  tell 
him  that  he  intended  to  make  him  his  Solicitor  General 
in  the  place  of  him  who  had  served  him  so  ill."8  Hyde. 
"  God  forbid."  King.  "  Why,  God  forbid  T—Hyde.  "  Sire, 
it  is  my  duty  to  advise  your  Majesty  that  it  is  by  no 
means  fit  that  at  this  time  the  other  should  be  removed, 
and  to  assure  your  Majesty  that  if  he  were  removed,  I  am 
in  no  degree  fit  to  succeed  him." 

The  Queen  then,  in  a  very  complimentary  manner, 
insisted  on  Hyde's  high  qualifications  for  the  office  ;  but 
he  besought  them  to  believe,  "  that  although  the  present 
Solicitor  General  will  never  do  much  service,  he  will  be  able 
to  do  much  more  mischief  if  he  be  removed."  They  then 
1  159  to  148.  2  Parl.  Hist.  937,  942.  *  Oliver  St.  John. 


1642.]  EARL     OF    CLARENDON.  429 

proposed  another  opening  to  him  ;  but  he  tells  us  he 
assured  them  "  he  should  be  able  to  do  much  more  ser- 
vice in  the  condition  he  was  in."1 

Hyde  thus  for  the  present  remained  without  any  office  ; 
but  a  sort  of  inner  cabinet  was  constituted,  consisting  of 
him,  Falkland,  and  Colepeper, — whom  the  King  desired 
to  meet  frequently  to  consult  on  his  affairs, — to  conduct 
them  in  parliament, — and  to  give  him  constant  advice 
what  he  was  to  do, — solemnly  pledging  himself  "  that 
without  their  consent,  he  would  take  no  step  in  parliament 
whatever"* 

The  three  associates  met  nightly  at  Hyde's  house,  con- 
ferring on  the  events  of  the  by-gone  day,  and  concerting 
measures  for  the  morrow.  To  him  was  assigned  the  draw- 
ing of  all  papers  which  were  to  appear  before  the  world 
against  the  proceedings  of  the  parliament,  and  he  likewise 
carried  on  a  private  correspondence  with  the  King  to 
in-form  him  of  their  sentiments,  and  to  keep  him  steady 
to  his  purpose. 

Under  this  arrangement  the  royal  cause  visibly  pros- 
pered ;  and  the  people,  according  to  their  natural  levity 
and  ingratitude,  already  forgetting  the  reforms  which  the 
parliament  had  achieved  for  them,  were  beginning  to  re- 
gard the  leaders  as  men  merely  actuated  by  personal  am- 
bition,—when  the  King,  being  told  by  foolish  courtiers 
and  bed-chamber  women  that  the  moment  had  arrived  for 
victory  and  vengeance,  ordered  Herbert,  the  Attorney 
General,  forthwith  to  go  to  the  House  of  Lords,  and  to 
impeach  Lord  Kimbolton,  and  the  five  members  for  high 
treason, — and  he  himself,  in  his  own  proper  person, 
entered  the  House  of  Commons  to  arrest  them  with  his 
own  hand. 

We  may  judge  of  Hyde's  consternation  at  the  news  of 
these  proceedings,  from  his  statement  written  years  after, 
when  indignation  at  the  treachery  of  Charles,  and  con- 
tempt for  his  weakness,  had  been  almost  absorbed  in  pity 
for  his  misfortunes.  "  The  three  persons  before  named, 
without  whose  privity  the  King  had  promised  that  he 
would  enter  upon  no  counsel,  were  so  much  displeased 
and  dejected,  that  they  were  inclined  never  more  to  take 
upon  them  the  care  of  any  thing  to  be  transacted  in  the 
House,  finding  already  that  they  could  not  avoid  being 
1  Life,.i.  101.  *  Ibid.  i.  102. 


430         CHANCELLORS     OF    CHARLES    II.       [1642 

looked  upon  as  the  authors  of  those  counsels,  to  which 
they  were  so  absolute  strangers,  and  which  they  so  per- 
fectly detested  ;  and,  in  truth,  they  had  then  withdrawn 
themselves  from  appearing  often  in  the  House  but  upon 
the  abstracted  consideration  of  their  duty  and  conscience, 
and  the  present  ill  condition  the  King  was  in."  ' 

It  is  creditable  to  Hyde  that,  without  office  or  emolu- 
ment, he  continued,  on  public  grounds,  to  serve  a  Sovereign 
in  whom  he  could  no  longer  place  private  confidence,  at  a 
time  when  difficulties  were  so  rapidly  accumulating  round 
him.  The  parliament  now  openly  assumed  the  functions 
of  the  executive  government,  by  ordering  out  the  train- 
bands, and  issuing  commands  to  the  governors  of  for- 
tresses. They  even  interfered  with  the  management  of 
the  King's  children ;  and  Hyde  was  ordered,  along  with 
another  member  of  the  House  of  Commons  and  a  Peer, 
to  attend  his  Majesty  and  inform  him  of  their  wishes,  that 
Prince  Charles  should  not  be  removed  from  Hampton 
Court.  The  deputation  found  the  King  at  Canterbury  on 
his  return  from  Dover,  where  the  Queen  had  embarked — 
after  persuading  him  to  assent  to  the  "  Bishops'  Exclusion 
Bill."  They  were  ordered  "to  attend  him  after  he  had 
supped,  and  they  should  receive  their  answer."  Accord- 
ingly they  were  admitted  at  nine  o'clock,  and  a  sharp  re- 
buke was  read  to  them  for  their  impertinence.  In  public, 
Hyde  could  only  act  and  be  treated  as  one  of  the  depu- 
ties ;  but  he  contrived  to  have  a  private  interview  when 
the  King  was  undressing  for  bed,  and,  with  great  difficulty, 
prevailed  upon  him  to  recall  the  answer,  "  which  could 
produce  no  good,  and  might  do  hurt,"  and  to  desire  the 
deputation  to  wait  upon  him  at  Greenwich  to  receive  his 
final  reply,  although  Charles  still  "  enlarged,  with  much 
sharpness,  upon  the  insolence  of  the  message." 

In  the  meantime  Hyde,  with  the  sanction  of  Falkland 
and  Colepeper,  framed  a  more  moderate  answer,  which 
was  adopted.  Henceforward  he  was  entirely  in  the  King's 
confidence,  and  drew  all  the  papers  which  were  supposed, 
by  the  Council  even,  to  be  the  King's  own  composition, — 
on  a  promise  that  the  real  authorship  of  them  should  be 
kept  a  profound  secret.  "  His  Majesty  continued  so  firm 
in  this  resolution,  that  though  the  declarations  from  the 

1  Hist.  Eeb.  b.  ii. 


1642.]  EARL     OF    CLARENDON.  431 

Houses  shortly  after  grew  so  voluminous,  that  the  answers 
frequently  contained  five  or  six  sheets  of  paper  closely 
writ,  his  Majesty  always  transcribed  them  with  his  own 
hand,  which  sometimes  took  him  up  two  or  three  days 
and  a  good  part  of  the  night,  before  he  produced  them  to 
the  Council,  where  they  were  first  read,  and  then  he 
burned  the  originals."  ' 

Charles  now  withdrew  from  Whitehall,  which  he  never 
again  entered  except  as  a  prisoner,  and  traveling  towards 
the  north,  prepared  for  war.  Hyde  seems  to  have  thought 
that  he  would  have  done  better  to  have  trusted  to  the 
general  disgust  which  must  soon  have  been  produced 
by  the  violent  encroachment  of  the  parliament,  if  he  had 
appeared  to  place  confidence  in  the  returning  good  sense 
and  loyalty  of  the  people.  In  a  letter  to  Charles,  he 
solemnly  warned  him  against  the  counsels  of  violent  men. 
Having  mentioned  the  reports  respecting  his  Majesty's 
"  designs  of  immediate  force,"  he  decently  says,  "  to 
none  of  which  your  servants  give  the  least  credit,  as- 
suring themselves  that,  however  your  affairs  and  con- 
veniences have  invited  you  to  York,  you  intend  to  sit  as 
quietly  there  as  if  you  were  at  Whitehall.  For  your  Maj- 
esty well  knows  that  your  greatest  strength  is  in  the 
hearts  and  affections  of  those  persons  who  have  been  the 
severest  assertors  of  the  public  liberties  ;  and  so,  besides 
their  duty  and  loyalty  to  your  person,  are  in  love  with  your 
inclinations  to  peace  and  justice,  and  value  their  own  in- 
terests upon  the  preservation  of  your  rights.  These  your 
Majesty  will  not  lose  by  any  act  which  may  beget  just 
fears  in  them.  Neither  can  there  be  so  cunning  a  way- 
found  out  to  assist  those  who  wish  not  well  to  your  Maj- 
esty (if  any  such  there  be),  as  by  giving  the  least  hint  to 
your  people  that  you  rely  upon  anything  but  the  strength 
of  your  laws  and  their  obedience."  : 

The  parliament  saw  the  advantage  which  the  King  might 
have  drawn  from  delay,  and  they  hurried  on  their  Ordi- 
nance about  the  militia,  to  which  he  could  not  consent, — 
as,  in  violation  of  the  first  principles  of  the  constitution, 
it  transferred  to  them  the  power  of  the  sword,  and  it 
virtually  dethroned  him.  The  King's  declaration,  drawn 
by  Hyde,  on  rejecting  this  measure,  is  a  masterly  per- 

1  Life,  i.  119-125.  *  Clar.  State  Pap.  ii.  139- 


432         CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    II.        [1642. 

formance,  and  must  have  produced  a  considerable  effect 
upon  the  public  mind.' 

Notwithstanding  all  the  precautions  which  were  used, 
there  was  a  strong  suspicion  that  the  member  for  Saltash 
carried  on  a  secret  correspondence  with  the  King,  and  a 
motion  was  planned  for  an  inquiry  "  upon  whose  advice 
the  King  acted," — to  be  followed  up  by  an  order  for  send- 
ing the  offender  to  the  Tower;  but  before  this  intention 
could  be  carried  into  effect,  Hyde  finally  withdrew  from 
the  parliament.  He  received  '  a  letter  from  the  King 
expressing  a  wish  that  he  should  repair  to  York,  "  there 
being  now  urgent  occasions  for  his  immediate  advice." 
Having  come  to  an  explanation  with  the  Lord  Keeper 
Littleton,3  he  obtained  leave  of  absence  for  a  few  days 
upon  a  physician's  written  recommendation  "  that  he 
should  take  the  air  of  the  country  for  his  health."3  He 
first  went  to  the  house  of  a  friend  near  Oxford,  and  there 
hearing  of  the  escape  of  the  Lord  Keeper,  he  prosecuted 
his  journey  accompanied  by  Chillingworth.  Traveling 
by  unfrequented  roads  he  safely  reached  Nastall,  the 
residence  of  Sir  John  Worstenholme,  about  twenty  miles 
from  York.  Here,  where  he  had  been  expected,  the  King 
sent  him  the  parliament's  famous  proclamation  of  the 
26th  of  May,  and  required  him  to  furnish  a  prompt  reply, 
"  that  the  ppison  might  not  work  too  long  upon  the 
minds  of  the  people."  Having  performed  this  task,  he 
kissed  the  King's  hand  at  York,  and  thenceforth  remained 
constantly  near  his  person,  till  the  disasters  of  the  war 
caused  their  final  separation. 

Then  came  "the  nineteen  propositions" — more  rigorous 
than  those  imposed  by  the  Barons  on  Edward  II.  or  on 
Richard  II.,  by  which  were  to  be  subjected  to  the  control 
of  parliament  the  appointment  of  all  privy  councillors  and 
ministers  of  state,  the  keeping  of  all  forts  and  castles,  the 
command  of  the  militia,  and  the  government,  education, 
and  marriage  of  the  King's  children  ; — the  King  was  to 
consent  to  such  a  reformation  of  the  church-government 
and  liturgy  as  both  Houses  shall  advise  ; — every  member 
of  either  House  dismissed  from  office  during  the  present 
parliament,  was  to  be  restored  on  the  petition  of  the 
House  of  which  he  was  a  member; — the  justice  of  parlia- 

1  Rushworth,  iv.  578-599.     2  Parl.  Hist.  I2OI. 

3  Ante,  Vol.  III.  Chap.  LXVI.  3  Life,  i.  136. 


1642.]  EARL     OF    CLARENDON.  433 

ment  was  to  pass  on  all  delinquents,  notwithstanding  the 
royal  pardon  ; — Papist  Peers  were  disqualified, — and  no 
Peers  made  thereafter  were  to  sit  or  vote  in  parliament 
till  admitted  thereunto  with  the  consent  to  both  Houses.1 
The  King's  answer,  prepared  by  the  three  friends,  power- 
ful in  reasoning  and  touching  in  sentiment,  thus  con- 
cluded: — "These  being  passed,  we  may  be  waited  upon 
bare-headed,  we  may  have  our  hand  kissed,  the  style  of 
Majesty  continued  to  us,  and  the  King's  authority  de- 
clared by  both  Houses  of  parliament  may  be  still  the  style 
of  your  commands ;  we  may  have  swords  and  maces 
carried  before  us,  and  please  ourself  with  the  sight  of  a 
crown  and  a  scepter;  but  as  to  true  and  real  power,  we 
should  remain  but  the  outside,  but  the  picture,  but  the 
sign  of  a  King."2 

Hyde  now  heartily  concurred  in  the  issuing  of  the  Com- 
missions of  array, — in  the  declaration  signed  by  a  majority 
of  the  Peers  and  many  of  the  northern  gentry,  binding 
themselves  to  defend  the  King's  person,  crown,  and 
dignity, — and  in  the  proclamation  requiring  the  aid  of  all 
the  King's  subjects  north  of  Trent  and  within  twenty 
miles  southward  thereof,  for  suppressing  the  rebels  now 
marching  against  him.  He  was  present,  not  disapprov- 
ing, though  with  an  aching  heart,  at  the  scene  of  erecting 
the  royal  standard  at  Nottingham,  of  which  he  has  left 
us  such  a  graphic  description : — "  The  standard  was 
erected  at  six  of  the  clock  in  the  evening  of  a  very 
stormy  and  tempestuous  day.  The  King  himself,  with  a 
small  train,  rode  to  the  top  of  the  Castle  hill,  Varney,  the 
Knight  Marshal,  who  was  standard-bearer,  carrying  the 
standard,  which  was  then  erected  in  that  place  with  little 
other  ceremony  than  the  sound  of  drums  and  trumpets. 
Melancholy  men  observed  many  ill  presages  about  that 
time.  There  was  not  one  regiment  of  foot  yet  brought 
thither,  so  that  the  train-bands  which  the  sheriff  had 
drawn  together,  were  all  the  strength  the  King  had  for 
his  person  and  the  guard  of  the  standard.  There  ap- 
peared no  conflux  of  men  in  obedience  to  the  procla- 
mation. The  arms  and  ammunition  were  not  yet  come 
from  York,  and  a  general  sadness  covered  the  whole  town. 
The  standard  was  blown  down  the  same  night  it  had  been 
set  up,  by  a  very  strong  and  unruly  wind,  and  could 

1  2  Parl.  Hist.  1389.  *  R"sh-  iv-  728. 

III. — 1f> 


434         CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    II.       [1642. 

not  be  fixed  again  in  a  day  or  two  till  the  tempest  was 
allayed."  ' 

To  gain  time,  a  pacific  message,  prepared  by  Hyde,  was 
sent  by  the  King  to  the  two  Houses,  and  their  intemper- 
ate rejection  of  it  operated  powerfully  in  his  favor,  and 
"levies  of  men  and  all  other  preparations  for  the  war  in- 
credibly advanced."  I  do  not  find  that  any  gentleman  of 
the  long  robe  took  arms  on  the  King's  side  in  this  mem- 
orable struggle,  with  the  exception  of  Lord  Keeper 
Littleton's  volunteer  corps  at  Oxford,  and  they  probably 
would  have  met  with  little  countenance  from  Prince  Ru- 
pert and  the  cavalier  officers.  Hyde  made  himself  useful 
by  obtaining  large  supplies  of  plate  to  be  coined  into 
money  from  the  two  Universities,  by  raising  loans  for  the 
King  from  persons  of  wealth  in  the  midland  counties,  and, 
preceding  the  march  of  the  army,  by  trying  to  induce  the 
mayors  of  towns  and  other  civil  authorities  to  espouse  the 
royal  cause. 

He  was  present  at  the  battle  of  Edge  Hill,  but  placed 
in  the  rear  among  the  non-combatants, — the  King's  two 
sons,  the  Prince  of  Wales  and  the  Duke  of  York,  then 
boys  of  twelve  and  nine  years  of  age,  being  intrusted  to 
his  care.  It  is  said  that  the  day  after  the  fight,  when  the 
King,  notwithstanding  his  severe  losses,  might  have 
marched  to  London,  both  Falkland  and  Hyde  dissuaded 
him  from  this  step,  "  not  desiring  to  obtain  that  by  a  pure 
victory  which  they  wished  to  be  got  by  a  dutiful  sub- 
mission upon  modest,  speedy,  and  peaceable  terms."8 
But  his  approach  to  the  metropolis  would  have  roused  a 
a  dangerous  resistance  to  him  there,  while  the  Earl  of 
Essex  would  have  hung  upon  his  rear, — and  he  probably 
followed  prudent  advice  in  marching  to  Oxford,  "  the  only 
city  that  he  could  say  was  certainly  at  his  devotion."5 
Here  he  established  and  retained  the  seat  of  his  civil 
government  till  the  termination  of  the  war. 

Through  the  instrumentality  of  Hyde  a  negotiation 
was  now  opened  with  the  parliament,  and  there  was  a  very 
favorable  prospect  of  a  settlement ;  but  it  was  suddenly  ter- 
minated by  the  treacherous  march  of  the  King  to  Brent- 
ford,— after  which  "  all  thoughts  of  treaty  were  dashed  ; 
they  who  most  desired  it  did  not  desire  to  be  in  the  King's 
mercy  ;  and  they  now  believed,  by  his  Majesty  making 
1  Hist.  Reb.  b.  v.  2  Sir  P.  Warwick's  Mem.  3  Hist.  Reb.  b.  vi. 


1643.]  EARL     OF    CLARENDON.  435 

so  much  haste  towards  them  after  their  offer  of  a  treaty, 
that  he  meant  to  have  surprised  and  taken  vengeance  of 
them  without  distinction."  ] 

The  attempt  at  negotiation  was  resumed  ineffectually 
during  the  winter,  and  in  the  spring  both  parties  prepared 
actively  for  operations  in  the  field.  Now  at  last,  Hyde 
was  installed  in  a  responsible  office.  A  letter  from  the 
King  to  the  Queen  had  been  intercepted  and  published 
by  the  Parliament,  in  which,  after  expressing  an  intention 
to  make  Secretary  Nicholas  Master  of  the  Wards,  he  adds, 
"And  then  I  must  make  Ned  Hyde  Secretary  of  State, 
for  the  truth  is  I  can  trust  nobody  else."  The  King 
having  procured  a  printed  copy  of  this  letter,  himself 
showed  it  to  Hyde,  and  proposed  immediately  to  carry 
the  plan  into  effect.  Hyde  refused,  unless  with  the  full 
consent  of  Nicholas,  who  represented  that  the  change 
would  be  disadvantageous  to  him.  Luckily  at  this  time 
the  office  of  Master  of  the  Rolls,  which  Colepeper  greatly 
coveted,  became  vacant  by  the  death  of  Sir  Charles  Caesar. 
Colepeper  willingly  gave  up  his  office  of  Chancellor  of  the 
Exchequer  for  the  Rolls,  of  which  he  never  enjoyed  but 
the  title,  Speaker  Lenthal  being  soon  in  possession  of  its 
jurisdiction  and  emoluments, — and  Hyde  was  made  Chan- 
cellor of  the  Exchequer,  was  sworn  of  the  Privy  Council, 
and  received  the  honor  of  knighthood. 

He  exerted  himself  with  great  energy  in  his  office,  and 
was  in  hopes  of  a  favorable  issue  to  the  contest — when  the 
battle  of  Newbury  was  fought,  in  which  fell  Lord  Falk- 
land, "a  loss,"  he  says,  ''which  no  time  will  suffer  to  be 
forgotten,  and  no  success  of  fortune  could  repair."3 

The  office  of  Secretary  of  State,  now  vacant-by  the  un- 
timely death  of  this  distinguished  man,  was  offered  to  Hyde, 
but  he  declined  it  in  favor  of  Lord  Digby,  who,  it  was 
thought,  might  be  more  competent  to  conduct  negotia- 
tions then  pending  with  Harcourt,  the  French  ambassa- 
dor. 

The  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  was  soon  over- 
whelmed with  grief  by  the  decline  of  the  royal  cause— 

1  Hist.  Reb.     Passage  suppressed  in  1st  edition. 

2  Hist.  Reb.  iv.     There  is  nothing  in  the  writings  of  Clarendon  which 
gives  us  so  high  an  opinion  of  his  head  and  his  heart,  as  his  character  of 
Lord  Falkland.     The  writer  must  have  had  high  qualities  himself  who  could 
so  enthusiastically  admire,  so  delicately  discriminate,  and  so  beautifully  de- 
lineate the  high  qualities  of  another. — Life,  i.  42-50. 


436         CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    II.        [1643. 

which  he  mainly  ascribed  to  the  misconduct  of  the  royal- 
ists, both  in  the  military  and  civil  departments.  "  Those 
under  the  King's  command  grew  insensibly  unto  all  the 
havoc,  disorder,  and  impiety  with  which  they  had  re- 
proached the  rebels,  and  they  into  great  discipline,  dili- 
gence, and  sobriety.  Thus  one  side  seemed  to  fight  for 
monarchy  with  the  weapons  of  confusion,  and  the  other 
to  destroy  the  King  with  all  the  principles  of  monarchy." 
Hyde  himself,  notwithstanding  his  talents  and  services, 
was  regarded  with  envy  by  ignorant,  profligate,  high-born 
cavaliers  as  an  upstart.  The  recollections  of  the  slights 
and  indignities  which  he  now  suffered  afterwards  drew 
from  him  these  cutting  observations : — "  It  were  to  be 
wished  that  persons  of  the  greatest  birth  and  fortune 
would  take  that  care  of  themselves,  by  education,  industry, 
literature,  and  a  love  of  virtue,  to  surpass  all  other  men  in 
knowledge,  and  all  other  qualifications  necessary  for  great 
actions,  as  far  as  they  do  in  qualities  and  titles;  that 
Princes,  out  of  them,  might  always  choose  men  fit  for  all 
employments  and  high  trusts;  which  would  exceedingly 
advance  their  service,  where  the  reputation  and  respect  of 
the  person  carries  somewhat  with  it  that  facilitates  the 
business.  And  it  can  not  well  be  expressed  or  compre- 
hended by  any  who  have  not  felt  the  weight  and  burden 
of  the  envy  which  naturally  attends  upon  these  pro- 
motions which  seem  to  be  per  saltum,  how  great  straits 
and  difficulties  such  ministers  are  forced  to  wrestle  with."1 
About  this  time  Hyde  had  to  resist  a  bold  measure, 
which  the  King,  at  the  suggestion  of  some  hot-headed 
courtiers,  strongly  urged, — to  issue  a  proclamation  for 
dissolving  the  parliament.  His  Majesty  said,  "that  he 
thought  there  was  too  much  honor  done  to  those  rebels 
at  Westminster  in  all  his  declarations,  therefore  he  knew 
no  reason  why  he  should  not  forbid  them  to  sit,  or  meet 
any  more  there;  he  knew  learned  men  of  an  opinion,  that 
the  act  for  the  continuance  of  the  parliament  was  void 
from  the  beginning,  and  that  it  is  not  in  the  power  of  the 
King  to  bar  himself  from  dissolving  it."  The  Chancellor 
of  the  Exchequer  answered  with  irresistible  force,  "  that 
not  only  the  people  in  general,  but  those  of  his  own  party, 
and  even  of  his  Council,  would  take  more  umbrage  upon 

1  Hist.  Reb.  b.  iv. 


1644-]  EARL     OF    CLARENDON.  437 

such  a  step  than  upon  any  one  particular  that  had  hap- 
pened since  the  beginning  of  the  war;  that  his  forbidding 
them  to  meet  at  Westminster,  would  not  make  one  man 
the  less  meet  there;  and  that  if  he  had  the  power  to  dis- 
solve this  parliament  on  such  grounds,  he  might  likewise 
repeal  all  other  acts  made  by  this  parliament,  whereof 
some  were  very  precious  to  the  people;  and  that  such  a 
proclamation  would  confirm  all  the  fears  and  jealousies 
which  had  been  infused  into  them,  and  would  trouble 
many  of  his  own  true  subjects." 

The  noble  historian  insinuates,  that  this  advice  came 
from  Herbert,  the  Attorney  General,  against  whom  he 
ever  shows  his  grudge.  After  some  conferences  with  Mr. 
Attorney,  the  scheme  was  abandoned.1 

Hyde  continued  to  struggle  vigorously  amidst  all  diffi- 
culties and  discouragements,  and  in  the  hope  of  producing 
a  scene  where  talent  and  merit  might  have  the  ascend- 
ency, he  prevailed  on  the  King  to  call  a  parliament  at 
Oxford,  as  a  rival  to  that  at  Westminster.  He  was  now 
for  a  time  in  the  important  position  of  leader  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  being  decidedly  the  first  in  eloquence 
and  a  knowledge  of  parliamentary  business  of  the  120 
Commoners  who  assembled  in  Christ  Church  Hall.  As 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  he  opened  his  budget,  de- 
tailing the  mischiefs  which  arose  from  raising  money  by 
unlawful  means,  and  under  the  plea  of  warlike  license ; 
and  showing  the  necessity  for  finding  more  regular 
methods  for  raising  supplies  to  carry  on  the  war.  He 
did  not,  however,  venture  to'  propose  that  any  tax  should 
be  formally  imposed, — which  might  have  speedily  raised 
an  awkward  question  as  to  the  regularity  and  powers  of 
this  Oxford  parliament,  while  another  was  sitting  under  a 
law  to  which  the  King  had  given  his  assent.  He  pro- 
posed, therefore,  that,  under  the  authority  of  the  two 
Houses,  as  testified  by  letters  to  be  signed  by  their  re- 
spective Speakers,  a  contribution  should  be  levied  on  the 
wealthy,  with  their  own  consent,  in  the  nature  of  a  prop- 
erty tax;  and  that  the  royalists  should  imitate  the  tax 
lately  imposed  by  an  ordinance  of  the  two  Westminster 
Houses,  on  wine,  beer,  and  other  articles  of  household  con- 
sumption,— the  origin  of  our  excise.8  These  "ways  and 

1  Life  of  Clarendon,  i.  169. 

8  Both  parliaments  declared  that  this  tax  should  only  continue  to  the  end 


438          CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    II.      [1645. 

means "  were   agreed    to,    and    produced   a   considerable 
supply. 

The  other  great  measure  attempted  by  this  Convention, 
—the  opening  a  negotiation  for  peace,  proved  abortive, — 
the  two  Houses  at  Westminster  refusing  to  receive  any 
communication  till  they  were  recognized  as  a  parliament, 
— and  when  they  had  been  so  recognized,  complaining 
that  "  the  persons  now  assembled  at  Oxford,  who,  con- 
trary to  their  duty,  had  deserted  the  parliament,  were  put 
on  an  equal  footing  with  the  two  Houses  convened  ac- 
cording to  the  known  and  fundamental  laws  of  the  king- 
dom." This  "little  Senate,"  to  which  Hyde  gave  laws, 
concluded  its  session  by  a  resolution,  "  that  the  Lords  and 
Commons  remaining  at  Westminster  have  rejected  all 
offers  of  peace  and  treaty  ;  and  that  for  having  made  war 
against  the  King,  counterfeited  the  King's  Great  Seal, 
and  abetted  the  Scotch  invasion,  they  are  guilty  of  high 
treason,  and  ought  to  be  proceeded  against  as  traitors  to 
the  King  and  kingdom."  :  The  desire  for  peace  and  the 
jealousy  about  religion,  manifested  by  some  of  the  mem- 
bers, had  given  much  uneasiness,  and  the  prorogation  was 
a  great  relief  to  the  King,  and  still  more  to  the  Queen, 
who  hated  the  very  name  of  parliament. 

During  the  campaign  which  followed,  in  which  Prince 
Rupert  once  more,  at  Marston  Moor,  lost  a  great  battle 
by  his  blind  impetuosity,  Hyde  remained  at  Oxford  try- 
ing in  vain  to  establish  some  order  and  regularity  in  the 
administration  of  the  King's  affairs.  He  received  a  flat- 
tering mark  of  his  importance,  in  being  specially  exempted 
from  pardon  in  some  new  demands  made  by  the  parlia- 
ment at  Westminster,  in  the  autumn  of  1644. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  following  year,  Hyde  was  the 
leading  commissioner  on  the  part  of  the  King  at  the 
treaty  of  Uxbridge,  the  last  time  the  two  parties  nego- 
tiated on  any  thing  like  equal  terms, — subsequent  events 
soon  placing  the  King  as  a  prisoner  in  the  hands  of  his 
subjects.  Seeing  that  there  never  would  be  another 
chance  of  pacification  on  the  basis  of  preserving  a  limited 
monarchy,  his  exertions  were  now  stupendous.  "  They 
that  had  been  most  inured  to  business  had  not  in  their 
lives  ever  undergone  so  great  fatigue  for  twenty  days  to- 

of  the  war,  and  then  be  utterly  abolished — "  which,"  adds  Clarendon,  "  few 
wise  men  believed  it  would  ever  be."  l  Rush.  v.  565.     Ante. 


1645-]  EARL     OF    CLARENDON.  439 

gather  as  at  that  treaty.  The  Commissioners  seldom 
parted  during  that  whole  time  till  two  or  three  o'clock  in 
the  morning.  Besides,  they  were  obliged  to  sit  up  later 
who  were  to  prepare  such  papers  as  were  directed  for  the 
next  day,  and  to  write  letters  to  Oxford,"  !  a  task  which 
fell  chiefly  on  Hyde  himself.  He  was  particularly  charged 
with  the  church  question,  and  peremptorily  refusing  the 
entire  abolition  of  episcopacy,  he  expressed  a  willingness 
to  modify  the  church  establishment,  and  disallow  plural- 
ities with  cure  of  souls, — that  the  Bishop  should  keep 
constant  residence  in  his  diocese,  and  preach  in  some 
church  within  it  every  Sunday, — and  that  £100,000  should 
be  raised  out  of  Bishops'  lands  for  the  public  service.8 

On  this  and  every  other  point  the  parliamentary  Com- 
missioners were  inflexible,  so  that  a  constitutional  settle- 
ment was  impossible,  and  another  trial  of  strength  in  the 
field  was  to  determine  whether  England  should  fall  under 
th?e  sway  of  an  absolute  monarch  or  of  a  republic. 


CHAPTER  LXXVI. 

CONTINUATION   OF  THE  LIFE   OF   LORD   CLARENDON  TILL 
HIS   RETURN  FROM   THE   EMBASSY   TO    MADRID. 

BEFORE  the  expected  crisis  arrived,  Hyde's  position 
was  entirely  altered.  The  King  wished  to  remove 
Prince  Charles,  now  a  spoiled  youth  of  fourteen, 
from  the  Court  (as  he  said),  "  to  unboy  him,"  and  the 
presence  of  some  person  of  exalted  rank  was  greatly 
wanted  in  the  west  of  England,  where  Goring,  Granville, 
and  other  royal  generals  were  quarreling  for  the  com- 
mand, and  exposing  themselves  to  loss  and  discredit.  An 
association  of  the  gentry  and  yeomanry  of  the  four  western 
counties  had  petitioned  that  the  Prince  should  be  placed 
at  their  head,  and  notwithstanding  his  tender  years  he 
was  invested  with  two  commissions,  one  as  General  of  all 
the  King's  forces  in  England,  and  another  as  Commander 
of  the  western  association.  But  he  was  to  be  guided  in 
every  thing  by  a  mixed  council  of  military  officers  and 
civilians,  and  among  the  latter  was  Sir  Edward  Hyde,  on 

1  Hist.  .Reb.  b.  v.  8  Ibid.  b.  v.     Rush.  v.  892. 


440          CHANCELLORS     OF    CHARLES    II.        [1646. 

whose  prudence  and  attachment  the  King  placed  such 
reliance.  Although  he  was  still  to  retain  his  office  of 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  he  very  little  relished  this 
new  appointment,  but  he  deemed  it  his  duty  to  submit. 
I  suspect  that  the  real  cause  of  his  removal  was  the  dislike 
entertained  for  him  by  the  more  violent  cavaliers,  and  by 
the  Queen,  who  considered  him  little  better  than  a  Round- 
head. From  this  time  he  had  no  influence  whatever  in 
the  general  direction  of  the  King's  affairs. 

On  the  5th  of  March,  1645,  the  Prince  and  his  adviser 
took  leave  of  Charles,  now  fated  to  destruction,  and 
neither  of  them  ever  saw  him  more.  They  journeyed  on 
to  Bristol,  then  a  royal  garrison,  where  they  stayed  a  con- 
siderable time,  while  efforts  were  vainly  made  to  allay  the 
jealousies  of  the  rival  Generals.  The  Council,  at  the 
suggestion  of  Hyde,  wrote  to  the  King,  proposing  that 
the  Prince  should  be  recalled ;  but  before  an  answer  was 
received,  news  arrived  of  the  disastrous  defeat  at  Naseby, 
and  there  was  no  safety  for  the  royal  family  in  the  center 
of  England.  Fairfax  advanced  towards  Bristol,  and  it 
was  necessary  to  conduct  the  Prince  further  to  the  west. 
Had  he  remained,  he  must  have  been  taken  prisoner  on 
the  shameful  surrender  of  that  city  by  Prince  Rupert. 

The  King,  who  had  retreated  into  South  Wales,  now 
anxious  for  the  safety  of  his  son,  summoned  Hyde  and 
Colepeper,  who  was  likewise  of  the  Prince's  Council,  to  re- 
pair to  him.  The  former  was  confined  to  his  bed  by  ill- 
ness, but  the  latter  joined  Charles  at  Brecknock,  and 
brought  back  from  him  a  mandate  addressed  to  the  Prince 
in  these  words :  "  My  pleasure  is,  whensoever  you  find 
yourself  in  apparent  danger  of  falling  into  the  rebels' 
hands,  that  you  convey  yourself  into  France,  and  there 
to  be  under  your  mother's  care,  who  is  to  have  the  abso- 
lute full  power  of  your  education  in  all  things  except  re- 
ligion." Hyde,  who  was  always  at  enmity,  either  openly 
or  secretly,  with  the  Queen,  and  who,  on  public  grounds, 
dreaded  the  consequences  of  her  influence  over  her  son, 
prevailed  upon  the  Council  to  write  a  letter  of  expostula- 
tion, in  which,  while  assuring  the  King  that  nothing 
should  be  omitted  to  save  the  Prince  from  falling  into  the 
hands  of  the  Parliament,  they  besought  that  a  place  of 
refuge  might  be  left  to  their  discretion,  and  that  at  all 
events,  Ireland  or  Scotland  might  be  preferred  to  France. 


1646.]  EARL     OF    CLARENDON.  441 

In  the  meantime,  under  color  of  giving  some  directions  as 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  respecting  the  duty  of  cus- 
toms, he  went  to  Falmouth,  and  there  secured  a  vessel  to 
be  ready  at  any  moment  for  the  escape  of  the  Prince  and 
his  attendants. 

The  King  wrote  back  a  peremptory  order  that  the 
Prince  "  should  quit  the  kingdom  ;  that  he  should  not  go 
to  Scotland  or  Ireland  ;  that  he  should  go,  if  possible,  to 
Denmark,  and  if  not  thither,  rather  to  France  or  Hol- 
land." There  were  no  means  of  reaching  Denmark,  and 
from  Holland  the  Prince  would  have  been  sure  to  be 
transferred  to  France,  and  placed  under  the  dominion  of 
his  mother,  whereby  a  settlement  of  the  nation  would  be- 
come impossible.  Hyde  and  his  colleagues,  who  now  had 
the  Prince  in  their  care  at  Tavistock,  addressed  another 
remonstrance  to  the  King,  assuring  him  "that  nothing  but 
his  commands  should  put  the  Prince  in  the  power  of  the 
Parliament,  but  also  telling  him  how  strongly  the  followers 
of  the  Prince  were  disinclined  that  he  should  quit  the 
kingdom  ;  that  many  who  were  faithful  would  rather  see 
him  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy  than  in  France;  and  that 
the  Council  must  advise  that  he  continue  still  within  the 
King's  dominions,  but  if  occasion  required  they  would 
transport  him  to  Scilly  or  to  Jersey."  At  Truro  they 
received  an  answer  by  which  Charles  acquiesced  in  their 
views,  but  reiterated  the  command  that  the  Prince  should 
leave  England  whenever  there  was  serious  hazard  of  his 
being  captured  by  the  parliamentary  forces. 

The  victorious  Fairfax  was  now  on  the  borders  of  Corn- 
wall, and  intelligence  was  received  by  the  Council  of  a 
design  to  seize  the  Prince's  person,  "  to  which  they  had 
reason  to  believe  that  some  of  his  own  servants  were  not 
strangers."  '  They  withdrew  him  to  Pendennis  Castle, 
but  that  was  no  safe  asylum  ;  for,  on  the  2nd  of  March, 
they  learned  from  fugitives  that  Fairfax  had  taken  posses- 
sion of  Bodmin.  That  night,  about  ten  o'clock,  the 
Prince  attended  by  Hyde  and  others  of  his  suite, 
embarked  in  the  vessel  that  had  been  prepared  for  his 
escape,  and  in  the  afternoon  of  the  second  day  arrived 
safely  in  Scilly.  Here  they  found  nothing  but  misery  and 
destitution,  and  "  Colepeper  was  sent  into  France  to 
acquaint  the  Queen  with  his  Highness  being  at  Scilly, 
1  Hist.  Reb.  b.  v. 


442          CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    II.       [1646. 

with  the  wants  and  incommodities  of  the  place,  and  to 
desire  supply  of  men  and  moneys  for  the  defense  thereof, 
and  the  support  of  his  own  person."  ! 

The  Prince  and  his  attendants  remained  in  Scilly  till  the 
i6th  of  April,  sometimes  almost  in  a  state  of  starvation, 
for  they  had  only  a  scanty  supply  of  provisions  from 
Cornwall  and  from  Normandy.  They  were  likewise  again 
in  great  danger  of  captivity.  Lord  Hopton,  the  King's 
brave  but  unfortunate  general,  who  commanded  the 
remnant  of  the  royal  army  in  the  west,  having  been 
obliged  to  capitulate,  an  expedition  was  fitted  out  to 
pursue  the  Prince ;  a  summons  to  surrender  to  the  Parlia- 
ment was  sent  in  ;  and  a  hostile  fleet  of  above  twenty  sail 
was  seen  hovering  round  the  island.  Happily,  a  violent 
storm  arose,  during  which  no  ship  could  keep  the  sea,  and 
the  immediate  danger  was  over.  As  soon  as  the  storm 
had  subsided,  the  Prince  and  Hyde  set  sail  for  Jersey, 
where  they  arrived  in  safety. 

The  great  struggle  now  was,  whether  the  Prince  should 
remain  at  Jersey,  or  cross  over  to  France.  The  Queen 
resorted  to  every  artifice  to  get  him  into  her  power :  and 
knowing  that  Hyde  would  never  consent  to  this,  she 
sent  him  by  Colepeper  a  crafty  letter  directed  to  him  at 
Scilly,  intimating  the  friendly  disposition  of  the  French 
Court,  "  if  the  Prince,  in  his  way  to  Jersey,  should  be 
necessitated  by  the  contrary  winds  or  the  danger  of  the 
Parliament  shipping,  to  touch  in  France."  Hyde  caused 
representations  to  be  made  to  her  of  the  injury  likely  to 
arise  to  the  King's  affairs  from  the  Prince  going  to  reside 
in  France, — assuring  her  that  he  was  in  perfect  safety  at 
Jersey;  but  she  contrived  to  get  from  the  uxurious  King 
a  written  authority,  signed  with  his  own  hand,  empowering 
her  to  join  his  "positive  commands"  to  hers  that  the 
Prince  should  repair  to  her  immediately.2 

After  the  King's  flight  from  Oxford,  and  while  between 
him,  now  a  prisoner,  and  the  victorious  Parliament,  negoti- 
ations were  pending  which  might  possibly  have  led  to  a  set- 
tlement, if  confidence  had  been  placed  in  his  sincerity  (for 
higher  terms  were  not  asked  than  at  Uxbridge), — Henrietta, 
with  a  certainty  of  offending  every  party  in  the  state,  and 
at  the  risk  of  raising  the  suspicion  of  a  plot  between  the 
royalists  and  Cardinal  Mazarine,  sent  over  Lord  Jermyn, 

1  I  Hist.  Reb.  b.  v.  2  Clar.  Pap.  ii.  230. 


1647.]  EARL     OF    CLARENDON. 


443 


her  favorite,  as  the  bearer  of  positive  orders  in  her  own 
name  and  the  King's,  that  the  Prince  should  forthwith 
join  her  at  Paris.  Hyde  could  detain  him  no  longer,  but 
refused  to  accompany  him, — seeing  that  in  France  he  him- 
self must  be  utterly  without  power,  or  influence,  or  the 
capacity  to  render  any  service  to  the  King,  or  the  Royal 
family,  or  his  country.  He  prevailed  on  Lord  Capel  and 
Lord  Hopton,  two  other  members  of  the  Council,  who 
concurred  in  his  views,  to  join  him  in  a  respectful  letter  to 
the  King,  justifying  their  conduct. 

Now  comes  that  period  of  Clarendon's  life  which,  to  the 
vulgar  eye,  appears  disastrous,  but  to  which  chiefly  he 
owes  his  celebrity.  Had  he  flourished  in  quiet  and  pros- 
perous times,  had  he  been  regularly  promoted  from  being 
Attorney  General  to  the  woolsack,  and  held  the  Great 
Seal  till  he  died, — he  might  have  been  surrounded  with 
luxury  and  flattery  while  he  lived,  he  might  have  left 
tithes  and  fortune  to  his  family,  and  he  might  have  been 
quoted  in  the  Court  of  Chancery  as  a  great  Equity 
Judge, — but  he  would  only  have  been  high  in  the  vulgar 
line  of  professional  lawyers.  Who  would  exchange  the 
reputation  of  Clarendon  for  that  of  Guilford,  or  even  of 
Nottingham  or  of  Hardwick? 

He  remained  in  this  sequestered  island  above  two 
years,— having  entirely  sacrificed  his  profession, — without 
office  or  employment, — without  the  occupation  and 
excitement  now  afforded  by  parliamentary  opposition  to 
the  leaders  of  a  discomfited  party, — even  without  the  com- 
forts and  solaces  of  domestic  life.  But  instead  of  indulg- 
ing in  despondence,  or  in  idleness,  or  in  frivolous  amuse- 
ments, he  employed  his  time  with  well-directed  industry 
and  vigor,  and  he  rendered  his  name  immortal.  Seeing  the 
struggle  in  which  he  had  been  engaged  was  the  most  import- 
ant that  ever  had  occurred  in  English  history,  and  knowing 
that  it  must  be  interesting  to  all  future  generations  of 
Englishmen,  he  had  long  resolved,  for  his  own  fair  fame 
and  for  the  benefit  of  his  country,  to  become  its  historian. 
This  purpose  was  strengthened  as  he  saw  the  royal  cause 
decline,  from  the  apprehension  that  the  domination  of 
the  opposite  faction  would  taint  the  sources  of  historic 
truth.  So  intent  had  he  become  on  his  object  that  he 
began  his  great  work  the  moment  he  set  his  foot  on  the 
rock  of  Scilly,  and  he  seriously  applied  himself  to  it  amidst 


444         CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    II.       [1647. 

the  distractions  and  difficulties  of  his  short  and  anxious 
sojourn  there, — in  danger  if  taken  prisoner  by  the  forces 
of  the  Parliament  of  being  brought  to  trial  as  a  malig- 
nant,— and  deeply  occupied  in  counteracting  the  selfish 
plans  of  Queen  Henrietta  Maria,  by  which  she  was  injur- 
ing the  royal  cause,  and  cutting  off  all  hope  of  a  happy 
settlement.  Now  released  from  other  engrossing  duties, 
he  earnestly  and  devotedly  applied  himself  to  his  literary 
undertaking, — of  which  we  can  distinctly  trace  the  pro- 
gress as  well  as  the  commencement.  He  had  with  him 
original  papers  and  memoranda  which  he  had  been  some 
time  collecting,  and  he  anxiously  taxed  his  memory 
respecting  events  which  had  come  under  his  own  observa- 
tion. He  endeavored,  by  application  in  various  quarters, 
to  supply  his  deficiency  of  materials  with  respect  to  mili- 
tary operations  and  distant  transactions.  He  wrote  to 
Lord  Witherington,  the  friend  of  the  Marquis  of  New- 
castle, entreating  from  both  of  them  a  narration  of  those 
affairs  in  which  they  had  borne  a  part.  From  Lord  Bris- 
tol he  asked  information  respecting  the  treaty  of  Berwick, 
the  Great  Council  of  the  Peers  at  York,  and  that  noble- 
man's own  commitment  by  the  Parliament.  To  Lord 
Digby  he  wrote  : — "  I  pray  let  your  secretaries  collect  all 
material  passages  concerning  Ireland  you  may  think  fit  to 
impart  to  me.  I  would  be  glad  you  would  yourself  collect 
as  many  particulars  of  Count  Harcourt's  negotiation  in  Eng- 
land, of  Duke  Hamilton's  commitment,  and  of  the  Mar- 
quess of  Montrose's  managing  in  Scotland,  and  any  other 
things  you  imagine  conducing  to  my  work."  He  placed 
great  reliance  on  Secretary  Nicholas,  to  whom  he  says, 
"you  will  by  all  your  diligence,  intercourse,  and  dexterity, 
procure  me  such  materials  for  my  History  as  you  know 
necessary, — which  I  take  to  be  so  much  your  work  that 
if  I  fail  in  it,  I  will  put  marginal  notes  in  History  that 
shall  reproach  you  for  want  of  contribution.  By  your  care 
I  must  be  supplied  with  all  the  acts  of  countenance  and 
confederacy  which  have  passed  from  France,  Holland,  and 
Spain." 

His  application  to  Colepeper  is  particularly  interesting, 
from  the  allusion  to  Falkland,  and  the  confidence  which 
the  writer  displays  in  his  own  powers.  After  asking  him 
for  his  recollections  of  Edge  Hill,  he  says,  "  The  like  care 
I  expect  from  you  concerning  the  siege  of  Gloucester, 


1647.]  EARL     OF    CLARENDON.  445 

the  raysing  y*  siege  and  retriete,  the  oversight  there,  the 
quick  march  after,  and  ye  first  battle  of  Newbury,  where 
wee  lost  deare  Falkland,  whom  y*  next  age  shall  be  taught 
to  valew  more  than  y*  present  did." 

He  thus  communicated  his  intention  to  Charles  I.,  now 
in  the  power  of  the  Parliament,  but  allowed  considerable 
liberty  of  correspondence  and  still  treated  with  respect. 
"  I  flatter  myself  with  an  opinion  that  I  am  doing  your 
Majesty  some  service  in  this  island  whilst  I  am  preparing 
the  story  of  your  sufferings,  that  posterity  may  tremble 
at  the  reading  of  what  the  present  age  blushes  not  to 
execute."  The  King  took  the  most  lively  interest  in  the 
work,  and  contributed  a  narrative  of  all  important  matters 
between  the  time  when  Hyde  quitted  Oxford  to  attend 
the  Prince  in  the  west,  and  his  own  escape  to  the  Scottish 
camp.  The  expectation  of  further  assistance  from  the 
same  quarter  was  disappointed,  as  we  learn  from  a  letter 
written  by  Hyde,  in  December,  1647,  in  which  he  says, — 
"Your  Majesty's  sudden  remove  from  Hampton  Court 
hath  for  the  present  taken  away  the  opportunity  of  de- 
riving those  materials  which  your  Majesty  graciously  in- 
timated by  Mr.  Secretary  Nicholas  you  intended  for  me, 
which  renewed  my  courage  when  I  was  even  ready  to 
faint  for  want  of  some  supply."  But  from  Prince  Charles 
he  unexpectedly  received  useful  memorials  of  the  cam- 
paigns of  Prince  Rupert. 

He  devoted  not  less  than  ten  hours  a  day  to  his  work, 
being  generally  employed  three  hours  a  day  in  writing, 
and  the  rest  of  his  time  in  examining  authorities  and 
collating  materials.  From  the  unspeakable  advantage  of 
having  a  great  and  worthy  object  to  pursue,  he  not  only 
escaped  the  tedium  which  must  otherwise  have  devoured 
him  ;  but,  with  much  to  mortify  and  alarm  him,  he  pre- 
served equanimity  and  even  cheerfulness.  He  thus  de- 
scribes his  course  of  life  at  Jersey,  till  he  was  left  in  entire 
solitude:  "Whilst  the  Lords  Capel  and  Hopton  stayed 
there,  they  lived  and  kept  house  together  in  St.  Hilary's, 
which  is  the  chief  town  of  the  island,  where,  having  a 
chaplain  of  their  own,  they  had  prayers  every  day  in 
the  church  at  II  of  the  clock  in  the  morning;  till  which 
hour  they  enjoyed  themselves  in  their  chambers,  accord- 
ing as  they  thought  fit,  the  CHANCELLOR '  betaking  him- 

1  Our  historian  shows  his  fondness  for  pompous  appellations  (for  which  he 


446         CHANCELLORS  OF  CHARLES    II.          [1647. 

self  to  the  continuance  of  the  history  which  he  had  begun 
in  Scilly,  and  spending  most  of  his  time  at  that  exercise. 
The  other  two  walked  or  rode  abroad  or  read,  as  they 
were  disposed ;  but  at  the  hour  of  prayers  they  always 
met,  and  then  dined  together  at  the  Lord  Hopton's  lodg- 
ings, which  was  the  best  house,  they  being  lodged  at 
several  houses  with  convenience  enough.  Their  table  was 
maintained  at  their  joint  expense — only  for  dinners,  they 
never  using  to  sup,  but  met  always  upon  the  sands  in  the 
evening  to  walk,  after  going  to  the  castle  to  Sir  George 
Carteret,  who  treated  them  with  extraordinary,  kindness 
and  civility."  ' 

After  a  few  months  he  was  deprived  of  the  society  of 
his  friends, — Lord  Capel  leaving  Jersey  for  Holland,  and 
Lord  Hopton  for  Normandy,  with  a  view  to  their  return 
to  England.  He  was  too  obnoxious  to  the  Parliament 
to  venture  to  put  himself  in  its  power,  and  he  was  too 
poor  to  send  for  his  wife  and  children,  who  were  sheltered 
by  relations  in  Wiltshire.  Speaking  of  Lady  Hyde  at  this 
time,  he  says,  "  She  bears  her  part  with  miraculous  con- 
stancy and  courage,  which  truly  is  an  unspeakable  com- 
fort to  me."  * 

He  now  left  the  town  of  St.  Hilary's,  and  under  the 
protection  of  Carteret,  constructed  for  himself  some  con- 
venient rooms  among  the  ruins  of  an  old  castle,  and  over 
his  door  he  set  up  his  arms,  with  this  inscription,  "  Bene 
vixit  qui  bene  latuit." 

Like  most  authors,  he  was  occasionally  discouraged  by 
the  difficulties  he  met  with,  saying  that  he  wished  he  had 
never  begun  the  work,  and  that  he  was  determined  to  lay 
it  aside, —  but  it  made  steady  progress,  and  in  seven 
months  he  got  as  far  as  the  erecting  of  the  royal  standard 
at  Nottingham.  To  tune  his  mind  to  historical  composi- 
tion, and  to  improve  his  taste,  he  read  over  Livy  and 
Tacitus,  and  almost  all  the  works  of  Cicero.  He  likewise 
availed  himself  of  the  opportunity  of  improving  himself 
in  the  French  language,  which  he  had  hitherto  neglected. 

His  studies  were  interrupted,  first  by  a  report  that 
Lord  Jermyn,  the  Queen's  favorite,  had  engaged  to  de- 
was  ridiculed)  by  thus  always  designating  himself  when  he  was  in  exile  in 
Jersey,  because  he  had  been  once  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  to  Charles  I., 
when  there  was  no  revenue  to  look  after. 

1  Life,  i.  239.  2  -Clar.  Pap.  ii.  310. 


1648.]  EARL     OF    CLARENDON.  447 

liver  up  Jersey  and  Guernsey  to  the  French  for  a  sum  of 
money,  rather  than  submit  to  which  he  patriotically 
agreed  with  Carteret  that  they  would  call  in  the  assist- 
ance of  the  Parliament, — and  afterwards  by  the  prepara- 
tions of  the  Parliament  forcibly  to  reduce  these  islands  to 
subjection ;  which  alarmed  him  so  much  for  his  per- 
sonal safety  that  he  made  his  will,  wrote  a  most  tender 
letter  to  his  wife,  to  be  delivered  to  her  when  he  should 
be  no  more,  and  gave  directions  respecting  his  papers  and 
the  publication  of  his  "  History  of  the  Rebellion." 

But  all  these  dangers  passed  over,  and  he  remained  un- 
molested in  his  retreat  at  Jersey  till  the  month  of  June, 
1648.  Early  in  that  year  he  had  received  the  King's  com- 
mands by  Lord  Capel  that  he  should  attend  the  Prince, 
whenever  required  by  the  Queen,  and  the  King  had 
directed  the  Queen  to  summon  him  as  soon  as  the  Prince, 
according  to  a  plan  agreed  upon,  was  to  quit  France.  In 
May,  a  letter  came  to  him  from  the  Queen,  requiring  him 
to  wait  upon  the  Prince  at  Paris  on  a  day  then  gone  by. 
He  immediately  looked  out  for  the  means  of  a  safe  trans- 
port, and  bidding  adieu  to  the  island  where  he  had  spent 
his  time  so  creditably,  so  usefully,  and  so  agreeably,  he 
crossed  over  to  Dieppe,  and  proceeding  to  Rouen,  he 
there  found  his  old  colleagues,  Lord  Bristol,  Lord  Cot- 
tington,  and  Secretary  Nicholas  who  had  received  similar 
orders. 

A  little  before  this,  seventeen  sail  of  English  ships  of 
war,  lying  in  the  Thames,  under  a  fit  of  returning  loyalty, 
had  declared  against  the  Parliament,  and,  displacing  their 
Admiral,  had  sailed  to  Holland;  and  the  Prince  of  Wales 
posting  to  Calais,  had  embarked  there  to  join  them,  and 
had  been  acknowledged  as  their  commander.  Hyde  and 
Cottington,  receiving  this  intelligence,  hastened  back  to 
Dieppe.  Here  they  found  a  French  frigate,  which  con- 
ducted them  to  Dunkirk,  where  they  heard  that  the  Prince 
with  the  fleet  had  entered  the  river  Thames,  in  hopes  of 
exciting  a  popular  movement  in  favor  of  his  family.  They 
were  eager  to  participate  in  this  enterprise,  and  Marshal 
Ranzau,  the  Spanish  Governor  of  Dunkirk,  furnished  them 
with  a  vessel  to  carry  them  across  to  the  coast  of  England. 
Unluckily,  they  were  becalmed  and  boarded  by  pirates 
from  Ostend,  who,  though  pretending  to  have  a  commis- 
sion from  the  King  of  Spain,  "  observed  no  rules  or  laws 


448         CHANCELLORS    OF     CHARLES    II.       [1649, 

of  nations."  They  stripped  and  rifled  the  passengers, 
taking  from  Lord  Cottington  to  the  value  of  ;£i,ooo,  and 
from  Hyde  £200  in  money,  and  all  his  clothes  and  linen, 
and  then  carried  them  prisoners  to  Ostend. 

The  two  Englishmen,  being  set  at  liberty,  complained 
to  the  law  for  redress,  and  they  were  surprised  as  well  as 
irritated  to  find  that  no  effectual  steps  were  taken  to 
arrest  the  malefactors  or  restore  their  stolen  property, — 
till  they  heard  that  the  piratical  ships  were  the  private 
property  of  the  Governor  and  magistrates  of  Ostend,  who 
had  divided  the  spoil.  They  were  obliged  to  be  satisfied 
with  100  pistoles  to  discharge  the  debts  they  had  con- 
tracted in  the  town,  and  to  carry  them  on  their  journey. 
The  Prince's  naval  expedition  had  failed,  and  being 
obliged  to  retire  before  the  fleet  of  the  Parliament,  com- 
manded by  the  Earl  of  Warwick,  he  was  then  in  Holland. 
Hyde  rejoined  him  at  the  Hague. 

Now  arose  those  bickerings  in  the  exiled  Court,  to 
which  we  have  referred  in  the  life  of  Lord  Keeper  Her- 
bert, who  is  so  strongly  charged  by  Hyde  with  having 
fomented  and  continued  them.1  A  temporary  calm 
was  produced  by  the  astounding  intelligence  of  the 
execution  of  Charles  I.,  by  the  exiles  formally  acknowl- 
edging Charles  II.  as  his  successor,  and  by  the  ceremony 
of  swearing  in  the  old  Councillors,  with  the  addition 
of  Secretary  Long,  of  the  Privy  Council  to  the  new 
Sovereign.  But  Hyde  soon  after  had  great  difficulty 
in  preventing  a  duel  between  Lord  Cottington  and 
Prince  Rupert.  He  himself  had  a  violent  altercation 
with  the  Earl  of  Lauderdale,  who  would  only  agree 
to  receive  Charles  as  King  of  Scotland,  on  condition 
of  all  enemies  to  the  Covenant  being  left  behind, — and 
he  was  rendered  unhappy  by  the  apprehension  of  the 
Great  Seal  being  given  to  Herbert,  whose  abilities  and 
services  he  justly  considered  much  inferior  to  his  own, 
but  whose  pretensions  were  supported  by  Prince  Rupert 
and  others,  on  the  ground  of  his  high  birth, — of  his  having 
filled  the  office  of  Attorney  General, — and  of  his  great 
professional  practice  and  experience.  The  heartburning 
on  this  subject  was  allayed  for  a  time  by  an  injunction 
from  the  Queen  mother,  to  which  her  son  promised  obedi- 
ence, that  no  new  appointment  to  any  state  office  should 

1  Ante,  vol.  iii.  p.  402  et  scq. 


1649.]  EARL     OF    CLARENDON. 


449 


take  place  for  the  present,  nor  till  she  should  give  her 
consent. 

The  murder  of  Dorislaus,  the, ambassador  of  the  Parlia- 
ment at  the  Hague,  having  greatly  alienated  the  States  of 
Holland  from  the  cavalier  cause,  and  Cardinal  Mazarine 
beginning  to  fear  and  to  court  Cromwell, — the  only 
foreign  country  from  which  aid  could  now  be  expected 
was  Spain.  Lord  Cottington  had  been  ambassador  there 
before  he  was  made  Lord  High  Treasurer,  and  from  his 
knowledge  of  the  Court  of  Madrid,  where  republican 
principles  were  held  in  great  abhorrence,  he  held  out  a 
hope  of  powerful  assistance  from  that  quarter  to  effect  the 
King's  restoration, — particularly  through  the  instrumen- 
tality of  the  Irish  Roman  Catholics,  of  whom  there  was  a 
large  number  in  the  Spanish  service.  He  offered  himself 
to  undertake  the  mission,  if  Hyde  would  accompany  him 
as  his  colleague.  Little  could  rationally  be  expected  in 
such  a  service  except  mortification  and  danger  ;  but  Hyde 
did  not  feel  that  he  was  at  liberty  to  decline  it,  and  he 
could  not  be  more  wretched,  or  more  useless,  than  in  his 
attendance  upon  Charles  in  his  wanderings.  "  In  the  end 
he  told  the  Lord  Cottington  that  he  would  only  be  passive 
in  this  point,  and  refer  it  entirely  to  him,  if  he  thought  fit, 
to  dispose  the  King  to  like  it ;  and  if  the  King  approved 
it,  and  commended  it  as  a  thing  he  thought  for  his  service, 
he  would  submit  to  his  command." 

Charles  approving,  "  soon  afterwards  publicly  declared 
his  resolution  to  send  the  Lord  Cottington  and  the  Chan- 
cellor of  the  Exchequer  his  ambassadors  extraordinary 
into  Spain,  and  commanded  them  to  prepare  their  own 
commission  and  instructions,  and  to  begin  their  journey- 
as  soon  as  was  possible." 

Their  secret  instructions  were  to  press  for  the  recog- 
nition of  Charles  as  the  legitimate  King  of  England ;  to 
try  to'  effect  a  league  offensive  and  defensive  between  him 
and  the  King  of  Spain  ;  to  raise  a  loan,  for  which  security 
was  to  be  given  under  the  Great  Seal  of  England,  in  any 
fashion  that  might  be  desired;  and  that,  by  way  of  con- 
cession, they  should  give  assurances  of  the  King's  reso- 
lutions of  grace  and  favor  towards  his  Catholic  subjects, 
and  that  they  should  offer  all  manner  of  civilities  to  the 
Pope's  nuncio  at  Madrid. 

Hyde  left'  the  Hague  in  the  end  of  May,  and  spent 
in. — 29 


450          CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    II.       [1650 

nearly  two  years  in  this  mission,  which  turned  out  to  be 
the  most  harassing  and  unprofitable  portion  of  his  life. 
After  settling  his  wife  and  family  at  Antwerp,  visiting  the 
Archduke  and  the  Duke  of  Lorraine  at  Brussels,  and  with 
difficulty  raising  a  small  supply  of  money  to  defray  the 
necessary  expense  of  his  journey,  he  visited  Charles  at  St. 
Germain's,  and  his  mother  at  Paris,  and  tried  to  make 
peace  between  them.  At  last  he  reached  St.  Sebastian's, 
on  the  Spanish  frontier.  Here  Cottington  and  he  met 
with  their  first  rebuff,  for  the  Corregidor  showed  them  a 
letter  from  the  Secretary  of  State  at  Madrid,  ordering 
that  when  "  the  ambassadors  of  the  Prince  of  Wales" 
should  arrive  there,  they  should  be  received  with  all  re- 
spect ;  but  they  should  be  instructed  not  to  proceed  till 
the  King  of  Spain's  further  pleasure  was  made  known  to 
them, — and  in  the  passports  handed  to  them  they  were 
designated  as  "ambassadors  of  the  Prince  of  Wales." 
They  dispatched  a  remonstrance  to  Don  Luis  de  Haro, 
the  Spanish  minister — desiring  to  know  if  their  coming 
was  unacceptable  to  his  Catholic  Majesty, — in  which  case 
they  would  immediately  return, — and  desiring  that  if  they 
were  received,  it  might  be  in  such  a  manner  as  was  due  to 
the  King  they  represented.  An  answer  was  sent  imputing 
the  designed  insult  to  the  negligence  of  a  Secretary,  and 
assuring  them  of  a  good  welcome  from  the  Spanish  King. 
But  on  their  arrival  at  Alcavendas,  three  leagues  from 
Madrid,  they  found  that  no  preparations  were  made  for 
their  reception,  and  that  the  Spanish  Court  wished  them 
heartily  at  a  distance — beginning  to  entertain  appre- 
hensions of  the  displeasure  of  the  English  parliament. 
To  avoid  proclaiming  to  all  Europe  the  ill  usage  they  ex- 
perienced by  now  retreating  they  privately  entered 
Madrid,  and,  preserving  their  incognito,  took  up  their  resi- 
dence at  the  house  of  an  English  merchant  well  affected 
to  their  cause.  On  a  fresh  representation  to  the  min- 
ister, a  formal  reception  was  promised,  and  in  the  mean 
time  they  were  invited  to  tournaments  and  bull-fights, 
where  places  of  honor  were  assigned  to  them. 

Intelligence  arrived  at  Madrid  that  the  .Parliament  was 
becoming  unpopular  and  weak,  and  the  promised  recep- 
tion was  accorded  to  the  royalist  ambassadors.  "  The 
King '  slightly  moved  his  hat  and  bid  them  cover."  Their 

1  Philip  IV. 


1650.]  EARL     OF    CLARENDON.  45I 

credentials  being  delivered,  4<  he  expressed,"  says  Claren- 
don, "  a  very  tender  sense  of  our  King's  condition,  and 
acknowledged  that  it  concerned  all  Kings  to  join  together 
for  the  punishment  of  such  an  impious  rebellion  and  par- 
ricide ;  and,  if  his  own  affairs  would  permit,  he  would  be 
the  first  to  undertake  it ;  but  that  they  could  not  but  know 
how  full  his  hands  were,  and  whilst  he  had  so  powerful 
an  enemy  to  contend  with  he  could  hardly  defend  him- 
self; but  that  when  there  should  be  a  peace  with  France 
(which  he  desired),  the  King,  his  sobrino  (for  so  he  called  the 
King  his  nephew),  should  find  all  he  could  expect  from 
him  ;  in  the  mean  time  he  would  be  ready  to  do  all  that  was 
in  his  power  towards  his  assistance  and  maintenance." ' 

But  the  dread  of  Cromwell,  to  whom  Europe  now  began 
to  look,  as  the  person  who  would  terminate  the  troubles 
in  England  by  military  despotism,  prevented  any  further 
notice  being  taken  of  them — till  Rupert,  with  his  fleet, 
ap'peared  upon  the  coast  of  Spain,  and  dispatched  a  let- 
ter to  Hyde,  desiring  him  to  obtain  from  the  Court  of 
Madrid  "  good  reception  for  his  vessels  in  any  Spanish 
port  they  might  have  occasion  to  enter."  The  character 
of  this  unscrupulous  warrior  indicated  immediate  danger, 
and  letters  were  dispatched  that  very  night  conveying 
the  required  directions  to  the  Governors  of  all  Spanish 
ports  on  the  ocean  and  within  the  straits,  "  with  as  many 
friendly  clauses  as  could  have  been  inserted  if  the  King 
had  been  in  possession  of  his  whole  empire  ; — so  great  an 
influence  a  little  appearance  of  power  had  upon  their 
spirits  :  and  the  ambassadors  found  they  lived  in  another 
kind  of  air  than  they  had  done ;  and  received  every  day 
visits  from  the  Court  and  from  those  in  authority." 

But  Hyde  and  his  colleague,  before  long,  found  them- 
selves again  neglected,  by  reason  of  a  storm  which  did 
great  damage  to  the  fleet  bearing  the  royal  flag  of  England, 
and  the  arrival  on  the  coast  of  Spain  of  a  more  powerful 
fleet  equipped  by  the  Parliament,  the  commander  of  which 
menacingly  warned  the  Spanish  government,  "  that  he 
knew  well  how  to  do  himself  right  for  any  injury  or  dis- 
courtesy they  might  sanction."  Not  only  were  orders 
issued  to  entertain  his  ships  with  all  hospitality,  but  he 
received  a  valuable  ring  from  the  King  as  a  propitiatory 
offering. 

1  Hist,  Reb.  b.  vi. 


452          CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    II.      [1651. 

Hyde  and  Cottington  soon  after  got  into  still  greater 
disgrace  by  the  assassination  at  Madrid  of  Ascham,  the 
diplomatic  agent  of  the  Commonwealth.  "  They  imme- 
diately sent  a  letter  to  Don  Luis  de  Haro  to  express  the 
sense  they  had  of  this  unfortunate,  rash  action,  of  which 
they  hoped  he  did  believe  if  they  had  any  notice  or  sus- 
picion they  would  have  prevented."  ' 

Although  Don  Luis  disclaimed  a  belief  so  injurious, 
suspicion  fell  upon  them,  as  they  had  warmly  protested 
against  Ascham's  reception,  and  one  of  his  assassins  was 
in  their  service.  However,  there  seems  no  reason  to  be- 
lieve that  Hyde  was  at  all  privy  to  the  affair.  In  a  letter 
to  Secretary  Nicholas  he  said,  "  This  accident  hath  been 
very  unfortunate  to  our  business,  concerning  which  we 
were  promised  to  have  positive  resolutions  within  a  few 
days,  but  we  must  now  sit  still,  without  pressing  them, 
till  this  matter  be  concluded ;  there  having  not  wanted 
some  malicious  spirits  here,  which  would  beget  an  opinion 
that  we  were  privy  to  this  mad  action,  when  God  knows, 
we  knew  not  of  the  man's  being  come  to  the  town  till  we 
heard  that  he  was  dead." ' 

They  were  again  courted,  and  feted,  and  fed  with 
fine  promises  on  news  arriving  that  Charles  II.  had 
been  received  and  recognized  as  King  of  Scotland, — 
the  Spaniards  not  being  aware  of  the  insecurity  of  his 
tenure  of  power  there,  and  not  understanding  what 
was  meant  by  his  having  been  obliged  to  deplore  the 
wickedness  of  his  father,  and  to  declare  that,  "  detesting 
prelacy,  he  would  henceforth  have  neither  friends  nor 
enemies  but  such  as  were  the  friends  or  enemies  of  the 
COVENANT."  But  a  dispatch  from  Cardenas,  the  Spanish 
resident  in  London,  announcing  to  his  government  the 
decisive  victory  gained  by  Cromwell  at  Dunbar,  by  which 
Scotland  was  conquered,  proved  the  final  ruin  of  all  the 
hopes  of  Hyde  and  Cottington  at  Madrid.  They  had  re- 
ceived instructions  from  Charles  to  protract  their  stay, 
and  they  tried  to  make  it  appear  that  this  defeat  would 
advance  his  cause  in  England  ;  but  the  Spanish  govern- 

1  Hist.  Reb.  b.  vi. 

2  Clar.   Pap.  iii.  21.     It  is  curious  to  consider  that  during  the  heat  of  the 
civil  war,  there  was  not  a  single  assassination  in  England  ;  but  that  when  it 
was  over,  the  recollection  of  it  caused  several  assassinations  on  the  Continent 
by  Englishmen  of  the  cavalier  party,    as  that  of  Dorislaus  in    Holland,    of 
Ascham  in  Spain,  of  Lisle  in  Switzerland,  &c. 


1651.]  EARL     OF    CLARENDON.  453 

ment  placed  no  faith  in  this  explanation,  and  after  many 
hints  that  their  continued  attendance  was  unwelcome  and 
fruitless,  they  at  last  received  a  formal  message  in  the 
name  of  King  Philip  '•  that  they  had  received  answers  to 
all  they  had  proposed,  and  were  at  liberty  to  depart,  which 
his  Catholic  Majesty  desired  they  would  do,  since  their 
presence  in  the  Court  would  be  prejudicial  to  his  affairs." 
They  demanded  and  obtained  an  interview  with  Don 
Luis  de  Haro,  but  instead  of  being  swayed  by  their  re- 
monstrances, "  he  pressed  them  very  plainly,  and  without 
any  regard  to  the  season  of  the  year,  it  being  toward  the 
end  of  January,  to  use  all  possible  expedition  for  their 
departure,  as  a  thing  that  even  in  that  respect  did  exceed- 
ingly concern  the  service  of  the  King."  A  day  even  was 
fixed  by  the  Spanish  government  for  their  audience  of  leave. 

It  is  a  striking  fact,  that  at  no  Court  in  Europe  was 
much  sympathy  exhibited  for  the  Stuarts,  and  in  the 
middle  of  the  i/th  century  there  was  no  such  coalition  of 
Sovereigns  in  support  of  royalty  as  was  witnessed  at  the 
conclusion  of  the  i8th  century,  when  a  republic  was  about 
to  be  estabished  in  France.  On  the  Continent,  the  con- 
tagion of  republican  principles  does  not  seem  to  have 
been  at  all  dreaded,  and  the  English  nation,  being  left  to 
the  entire  management  of  their  own  affairs, — first  the 
parliament,  and  then  Cromwell,  were  cordially  admitted 
into  the  community  of  European  governments. 

Thus  terminated  Hyde's  most  irksome  residence  of 
fifteen  months  at  Madrid.  Besides  the  diplomatic  disap- 
pointments he  encountered,  his  pecuniary  resources  were 
so  low,  that  he  often  found  the  greatest  difficulty  in  pro- 
viding for  the  personal  wants  of  himself,  and  his  wife  and 
children  left  destitute  in  a  distant  land.  "  All  our  money 
is  gone,"  he  writes,  "  and  let  me  never  prosper  if  I  know 
or  can  imagine  how  we  can  get  bread  a  month  longer." 
Again,  "Greater  necessities  are  hardly  felt  by  any  men 
than  we  for  the  present  undergo, — such  as  have  almost 
made  me  foolish  ;  I  have  not  for  my  life  been  able  to 
supply  the  miserable  distresses  of  my  poor  wife."3 

Hyde  found  consolation   in   that  love  of  study  which 

was  his  best  friend  throughout   his  chequered  life.     His 

History  was  suspended  for  want  of  materials,  but  he  now 

assiduously   cultivated    the    Spanish    language,    initiated 

1  Jan.  6,  1650.  J  Aug.  16,  1650. 


454          CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    //.       [1651. 

himself  in  Spanish  literature,  and  made  himself  familiar 
with  Spanish  laws  and  customs.1  He  also  here  composed 
a  devotional  work,  entitled  "  Contemplations  and  Reflec- 
tions upon  the  Psalms  of  David,  applied  to  the  Troubles 
of  this  Time." 

He  had  soon  the  affliction  of  losing  the  society  of  his 
colleague,  Lord  Cottington,  who  having  no  wife  or 
children  to  return  to,  being  worn  down  by  age  and  in- 
firmity, being  reconciled  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
in  which  he  had  been  educated,  and  sickening  at  the 
thought  of  being  again  plunged  into  the  civil  and  religious 
distractions  of  his  native  country,  resolved  to  spend  the 
remainder  of  his  days  in  Spain,  and  obtained  permission 
from  the  Spanish  government  to  reside  in  a  private 
capacity  at  Valladolid." 

Hyde  accordingly  had  his  audience  of  leave  as  sole  am- 
bassador. He  had  conducted  himself  during  his  residence 
at  Madrid  so  decorously,  so  inoffensively,  and,  notwith- 
standing his  narrow  circumstances,  with  so  much  dignity, 
that  he  had  made  a  very  favorable  impression  upon  the 
Spaniards,  which  now  showed  itself  in  spite  of  the  usual 
selfish  and  timid  policy  of  the  Court.  "  Hearing  that  he 
intended  to  repair  to  his  family  at  Antwerp,  and  stay 
there  till  he  received  other  orders  from  the  King  his 
master,  they  gave  him  all  dispatches  thither  that  might 
be  of  use  to  him  in  those  parts.  The  King  of  Spain  him- 
self used  many  gracious  expressions  to  him  at  his  last 
audience,  and  sent  afterwards  to  him  a  letter  for  the 
Archduke  Leopold,  in  which  he  expressed  the  good 
opinion  he  had  of  the  ambassador,  and  commanded  that 
whilst  he  should  choose  to  reside  in  those  parts  under  his 
government,  he  should  receive  all  respect  and  enjoy  all 
privileges  as  an  ambassador;  all  which  ceremonies,  though 
they  cost  him  nothing,  were  of  real  benefit  and  advantage 
to  him,  for  besides  the  treatment  he  received  from  the 
Archduke  himself  in  Brussels,  as  ambassador,  such  direc- 
tions or  recommendations  were  sent  to  the  magistrates 

1  He  must  surely  now  have  read  Don  Quixote  in  the  original,  but  he  says 
only  that  "  he  made  a  collection  of  and  read  many  of  the  best  books  which 
are  extant  in  that  language,  especially  the  histories  of  their  civil  and  ecclesi- 
astical polity,"  and  I  do  not  trace  in  his  writings  any  allusion  to  Cervantes. 
He  does  not  appear  to  have  had  any  taste  for  what  we  call  light  reading  ;  if 
he  had,  his  History  might  have  been  a  little  less  weighty. 

2  He  died  there  in  1652,  in  his  77th  year. 


1652.]  EARL     OF    CLARENDON.  455 

of  Antwerp,  that  he  enjoyed  the  privilege  of  his  chapel, 
and  all  the  English,  who  were  numerous  in  that  city, 
repaired  thither  with  all  freedom  for  their  devotion ;  which 
liberty  had  never  before  been  granted  to  any  man  there."  ' 


CHAPTER   LXXVII. 

CONTINUATION    OF  THE   LIFE    OF  CLARENDON  TILL  THE 
GREAT   SEAL  WAS   DELIVERED   TO  HIM  AT   BRUGES. 

HYDE  left  Madrid  in  March,  1651,  and  after  a  fatigu- 
ing journey,  performed  chiefly  on  mules,  reached 
Paris.  Here  he  was  received  more  graciously  than 
usual  by  Queen  Henrietta,  who  was  in  a  state  of  great 
anxiety  from  the  perils  to  which  her  son  was  exposed  in 
Scotland.  The  ex-ambassador  then  traveled  on  to  Antwerp, 
where  he  had,  for  some  months,  the  exquisite  enjoyment 
of  living  quietly  in  the  bosom  of  his  family,  although 
disturbed  by  the  sad  news  of  the  battle  of  Worcester, 
and  under  long  suspense  respecting  the  fate  of  his  young 
Sovereign.  At  last,  news  came  of  Charles's  miraculous 
escape  and  safe  arrival  in  Normandy.  Hyde  soon  re- 
ceived a  summons  to  repair  to  Paris,  and  on  Christmas- 
day,  1651,  again  took  up  his  residence  there  as  a  member 
of  the  exiled  Court.  All  the  former  enmities,  and  jeal- 
ousies, and  rivalries  between  the  titular  ministers  now 
broke  out  with  fresh  violence,  the  Queen  recklessly  in- 
flaming and  exasperating  them  in  her  efforts  to  gain  an 
ascendency  for  herself.  She  was  at  the  head  of  one  party, 
and  Hyde  of  another.  To  strengthen  herself,  she  tried  to 
introduce  Sir  John  Berkeley  into  the  Council,  and  to 
have  him  appointed  "  Master  of  the  Wards,"  an  office  de- 
pending upon  the  oppressive  military  tenures  which  the 
parliament  had  abolished,  and  to  the  abolition  of  which 
the  late  King,  at  several  conferences  had  readily  agreed. 
Hyde  urged  "  that  the  King  could  not,  at  the  time,  do  a 
more  ungracious  thing,  that  would  lose  him  more  the 
hearts  and  affections  of  the  nobility  and  gentry  of  Eng- 
land, than  in  making  a  Master  of  the  Wards  in  a  time 
when  it  would  not  be  the  least  advantage  to  his  Majesty 
»  Hist.  Reb.  b.  vi. 


456         CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    II.       [1652. 

or  the  officer ;  to  declare  that  he  resolved  to  insist  upon 
that  part  of  his  prerogative  which  his  father  had  con- 
sented to  part  with."  This  opposition  succeeded,  but 
rendered  the  Queen  still  more  hostile  to  Hyde. 

In  the  next  controversy  between  them,  I  must  say  it 
seems  to  me  that  he  was  decidedly  wrong,  and  that  he 
displayed  those  narrow-minded  and  bigoted  principles,  as 
an  ultra-high-church  Episcopalian,  which  subsequently 
betrayed  him  into  serious  errors,  and  even  a  sacrifice  of 
good  faith.  The  French  government  becoming  more  and 
more  intolerant,  would  not  suffer  any  English  strangers  to 
have  a  place  of  worship  in  Paris  according  to  the  rites 
and  ceremonies  of  the  Church  of  England ;  but  at  Charen- 
ton,  in  the  suburbs,  there  was  a  Huguenot  chapel,  where, 
the  Edict  of  Nantes  not  being  yet  repealed,  the  Pro- 
testant service  was  celebrated  according  to  law,  and  a 
very  pious  and  learned  divine  ministered  to  a  most 
respectable  congregation.  The  Queen  declaring  that,  not- 
withstanding her  zeal  for  her  own  religion,  she  respected 
the  dying  injunctions  of  her  late  husband,  and  was  con- 
tented that  her  son  should  remain  a  Protestant,  consented 
to  his  going  to  this  chapel,  as  he  could  not  be  present  at 
the  celebration  of  mass,  and  there  was  no  other  place  of 
public  worship  for  him  to  attend.  In  answer  to  Hyde's 
opposition,  she  observed  "  that  Queen  Elizabeth  had 
greatly  favored  the  Huguenots;  that  they  were  recognized 
as  a  reformed  church  ;  and  that  their  pastors  had  been 
admitted  into  the  Church  of  England  without  fresh 
ordination."  But  Hyde,  who  heartily  disliked  the  Roman 
Catholics,  but  much  more  any  Protestant  church  that  did 
not  rigidly  adhere  to  the  "Apostolic  succession,"  declared 
with  much  earnestness,  "  that  whatever  countenance  or 
favor  the  Crown  or  Church  of  England  had  heretofore 
shown  to  these  congregations,  it  was  in  a  time  when  they 
carried  themselves  with  modesty  towards  both  ;  but  that, 
of  late,  some  of  their  preachers  had  countenanced  the 
doctrine  that  it  might  be  lawful  to  resist  a  King  by  arms, 
and  had  even  inveighed  against  Episcopacy ;  that  the 
Queen,  whose  ulterior  object  was  the  conversion  of  her 
son  to  Popery,  intended  to  unsettle  his  faith,  and  weaken 
his  attachment  to  the  only  true  reformed  church  ;  when 
he  would  be  more  accessible  to  her  persuasions;  and  that, 
from  the  King's  going  to  Charenton,  it  would  be  con- 


1652.]  EARL     OF    CLARENDON. 


457 


eluded  everywhere  that  he  thought  the  Episcopalian  pro- 
fession and  Presbyterian  profession  were  indifferent,  which 
would  be  one  of  the  most  deadly  wounds  to  the  Church 
of  England  which  it  had  yet  suffered." 

This  matter  being  debated  in  Council,  Charles,  who 
was  delighted  to  be  entirely  exempted  from  the  restraint 
of  attending  public  worship  said  with  affected  gravity 
(having  probably  first  cast  a  sly  look  at  Buckingham), 
"that  upon  the  whole  he  thought  the  arguments  of  the 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  preponderated,  and  that,  out 
of  respect  for  that  true  Apostolical  church,  to  the  safety 
of  which  his  blessed  father  died  a  martyr,  he  would  not 
frequent  the  heretical  conventicle  at  Charenton."  '  He 
was  thus  at  liberty,  without  any  interruption,  to  devote 
himself  on  Sundays  to  Miss  Lucy  Walters  and  other  ladies 
of  the  same  stamp,  in  whose  society  he  now  spent  almost 
the  whole  of  his  time.2 

.  Plunged  in  the  gayeties  of  Paris,  he  forgot  the  misfor- 
tunes of  his  family,  and  lost  sight  of  his  three  kingdoms, 
content  if,  from  any  source,  he  could  be  supplied  with 
money  to  defray  his  personal  expenses.  Hyde  often  gave 
him  excellent  general  advice,  which  he  received  with  good 
humor,  and  neglected,  —  and  all  that  he  would  promise 
with  regard  to  business  was,  "  that  a  part  of  every  Friday 
(a  day  of  penance)  he  would  employ  in  reading  and  answer- 
ing letters  on  public  affairs,"  But  the  number  and 
publicity  of  his  amours  at  last  caused  general  scandal 
among  his  followers,  and  was  reported  to  his  disadvantage 
in  England.  His  character  particularly  suffered  from  the 
utter  worthlessness  of  Lucy  Walters,  who  by  her  arts  had 
won  his  affections,  who  by  her  influence  continued  to 
exercise  a  powerful  control  over  his  easy  temper,  and  who 
was  now  the  mother  of  a  child  she  called  his, — afterwards 

1  Hist.  Reb.  b.  vi.     Life  of  Clarendon  (L.  C.)  94. 

s  A  sincere  friend  to  the  Church  of  England,  I  can  not  conceal  my  disap- 
probation of  this  horror  of  entering  a  Presbyterian  place  of  worship,  which 
we  still  occasionally  meet  with  in  the  High  Church  party — which  induced 
Hyde  to  advise  that  Charles  should  rather  live  like  a  heathen,  than  attend 
public  worship  in  a  French  Protestant  chapel — and  made  Dr.  Johnson  say, 
when  in  Scotland,  that  he  would  not  go  to  hear  Principal  Robertson  preach, 
unless  he  should  take  a  tree  for  his  pulpit.  The  only  arguments  to  support 
such  intolerance  place  those  who  use  them  at  the  mercy  of  the  Romanists,  to 
whom,  perhaps,  they  would  be  glad  to  be  re-united.  Very  different  is  the  con- 
duct of  our  beloved  sovereign,  Queen  Victoria,  who,  when  in  Scotland,  attends 
divine  service  in  the  church  of  the  parish  in  which  for  the  time  she  is  residing. 


458         CHANCELLORS     OF    CHARLES    II,       [1652. 

the  celebrated  Duke  of  Monmouth.  Hyde,  assisted  by 
Ormond,  interfered  to  dissolve  this  disgraceful  connection, 
and  representing  to  Charles  the  injury  which  it  did  to  the 
royal  cause  at  home,  where  the  appearances,  at  least, 
of  morality  were  so  highly  respected,  they  prevailed  upon 
him  to  separate  from  her,  and  as  he  still  renewed  his 
intercourse  with  her,  they  induced  her,  by  an  annuity  of 
^400,  to  repair  with  the  child  to  her  native  country. 
When  she  arrived  there  she  called  herself  Charles's  wife, 
and  Cromwell,  after  keeping  her  some  time  in  the  Tower, 
sent  her  back  to  Paris,  But  Hyde  had  little  more  trouble 
with  her,  for  her  open  lewdness  was  such  as  to  forfeit  the 
royal  favor,  and  she  soon  after  died  disgracefully.  Her 
son  had  been  taken  from  her  and  placed  under  the  care  of 
the  Oratoriens  at  Paris.1 

A  plan  was  now  brought  forward  by  a  party  in  the  exiled 
Court,  to  marry  the  King  and  the  Duke  of  York  to 
Mademoiselle  d'Orleans  and  Mademoiselle  de  Longue- 
ville, — alliances  which,  from  the  ladies  being  Roman 
Catholics,  would  have  caused  extreme  dissatisfaction  in 
England,  and  might  seriously  have  obstructed  the  restora- 
tion of  the  royal  family.  This  was  successfully  opposed 
by  Hyde ;  but  he  wisely  supported  the  proposal,  that  the 
younger  brother  should  serve  in  the  French  army,  and 
honorably  employ  himself  in  seeking  military  experience 
under  the  great  Turenne. 

In  proportion  as  Cromwell  gained  an  ascendency  in  the 
Continental  Courts  as  well  as  at  home,  and  the  royal  party 
was  isolated  in  the  apartments  of  the  Louvre  assigned  to 
them,  Hyde's  difficulties  increased — from  their  want  of  real 
business.  "  It  is  hard,"  he  says,  in  a  spirit  of  good-natured 
sarcasm,  "  for  people  who  have  nothing  to  do,  to  forbear 
doing  something  which  they  ought  not  to  do.  Whilst 
there  are  Courts  in  the  world,  emulation  and  ambition  will 
be  inseparable  from  them ;  and  Kings  who  have  nothing 
to  give  shall  be  pressed  to  promise.  Men  who  would  not 
have  had  the  presumption  to  have  asked  the  same  thing 
if  the  King  had  been  in  England,  thought  it  very  justifia- 
ble to  demand  it  because  he  was  not  there,  since  there 
were  so  many  hazards  that  they  should  never  live  to 
enjoy  what  he  promised."  *  Upon  Hyde  was  thrown  the 
unpopular  task  of  refusing  these  solicitations,  for  in  the 

1  2  Clar.  Pap.  iii.  180.     Thurloe,  v.  169,  178.          *  Hist.  Reb.  b.  vi. 


1652.]  EARL    OF    CLARENDON.  459 

illness  and  absence  of  Secretary  Nicholas,  he  was  now 
considered  the  acting  and  sole  Secretary  of  State. 

As  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  devolved  upon  him  the 
duty  of  attending  to  the  scanty  finances  of  the  im- 
poverished King.  A  handsome  revenue  had  been  ex- 
pected from  the  prizes  to  be  made  by  the  fleet  under  the 
orders  of  Prince  Rupert  ;  but  he  returned  from  his  buc- 
caneering expedition  to  the  West  Indies,  bringing  in  an 
account  by  which  he  made  the  King  his  debtor,  and 
nothing  was  now  to  be  expected  from  this  quarter  except 
a  trifle  by  the  sale  of  the  decayed  ships  and  their  guns  and 
stores. 

In  a  letter  written  to  Sir  Richard  Brown,  in  August, 
1652,  Hyde  says,  "  A  sum  lately  received  at  Paris  for  the 
King  is  all  he  hath  received  since  he  came  hither,  and 
doth  not  enable  his  cooks  and  back-stairs  men  to  go  on  in 
providing  his  diet,  but  they  protest  they  can  undertake  it 
no  longer."  The  deficit  increased.  In  the  end  of  this 
year,  the  Finance  Minister  writes,  "the  King  is  reduced 
to  greater  distress  than  you  can  believe  or  imagine;"  and 
in  the  summer  of  the  following  year,  he  thus  describes  the 
state  of  the  treasury : — "  I  do  not  know  that  any  man  is 
yet  dead  for  want  of  bread,  which  really  I  wonder  at.  I 
am  sure  the  King  himself  owes  for  all  he  has  eaten  since 
April';  and  I  am  not  acquainted  with  one  servant  of  his 
who  hath  a  pistole  in  his  pocket.  Five  or  six  of  us  eat 
together  one  meal  a  day  for  a  pistole  a  week ;  but  all  of 
us  owe  for  God  knows  how  many  weeks  to  the  poor  wo- 
man that  feeds  us." ' 

This  may  seem  the  language  of  badinage;  but  to  other 
correspondents  he  writes  in  a  strain  which  proves  that  his 
own  personal  sufferings  from  poverty  were  most  severe. 
"  At  this  time  I  have  neither  clothes  nor  fire  to  preserve 
me  from  the  sharpness  of  the  season."  "  "  I  am  so  cold, 
that  I  am  scarce  able  to  hold  my  pen,  and  have  not  three 
sous  in  the  world  to  buy  a  faggot."  '  "  I  have  not  been 
master  of  a  crown  these  many  months,  am  cold  for  want 
of  clothes  and  fire,  and  owe  for  all  the  meat  I  have  eaten 
these  three  months,  and  to  a  poor  woman  who  is  no 
longer  able  to  trust;  and  my  poor  family  at  Antwerp 
(which  breaks  my  heart)  is  in  as  sad  a  state  as  I  am."  ' 

'  Clar.  Pap.  iii.  174-  *  N°*>  9'  l652- 

3  Clar.  Pap.  iii.  126.  *  tbld-  "4- 


460         CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    II.        [1653. 

owe  so  much  money  here  to  all  sorts  of  people,  that  I 
would  not  wonder  if  I  were  cast  into  prison  to-morrow ; 
and  if  the  King  should  remove,  as  I  hope  he  will  shortly 
have  occasion  to  do,  and  not  enable  me  to  pay  the  debt 
I  have  contracted  for  his  service,  I  must  look  for  that 
portion,  and  starve  there."1 

His  new  honor  of  "  Foreign  Secretary  "  added  greatly  to 
his  embarrassments,  as  the  letters  for  his  Government 
were  all  directed  to  him.  "  I  can  not,"  he  says,  "  avoid 
the  constant  expense  of  seven  or  eight  livres  the  week  for 
postage  of  letters,  which  I  borrow  scandalously  out  of  my 
friends'  pockets,  or  else  my  letters  must  more  scandalously 
remain  still  at  the  post-house :  and  I  am  sure  that  all 
those  which  concern  my  own  private  affairs  would  be  re- 
ceived for  ten  sous  a  week ;  so  that  all  the  rest  are  for  the 
King,  from  whom  I  have  not  received  one  penny  since  I 
came  hither."* 

He  bore  up  nobly  amidst  all  these  embarrassments. 
In  a  frame  of  mind  firm,  cheerful,  and  resigned,  he  thus 
writes  to  Nicholas : — "  Keep  up  your  spirits,  and  take 
heed  of  sinking  under  that  burden  you  never  kneeled  to 
take  up.  Our  innocence  begets  our  cheerfulness ;  and 
that  again  will  be  a  means  to  secure  the  other.  Whoever 
grows  too  weary  and  impatient  of  the  condition  he  is  in, 
will  too  impatiently  project  to  get  out  of  it ;  and  that,  by 
degrees,  will  shake,  or  baffle,  or  delude  his  innocence.  We 
have  no  reason  to  blush  for  the  poverty  which  is  not 
brought  upon  us  by  our  own  faults.  As  long  as  it  pleases 
God  to  give  me  health,  (which,  I  thank  him,  I  have  in  a 
very  great  measure,)  I  shall  think  he  intends  I  shall  out- 
live all  these  sufferings  ;  and  when  he  sends  sickness  I 
shall  (I  hope  with  the  same  submission)  believe,  that  he 
intends  to  remove  me  from  greater  calamities."8 

But  all  these  sufferings  were  light  compared  to  the 
tortures  which  he  felt  from  the  promotion  of  Herbert,  the 
late  Attorney  General,  to  be  Lord  Keeper.  This  individ- 
ual, as  we  have  before  explained  in  his  Life,  was  made 
an  instrument  in  the  hands  of  Hyde's  enemies  to  mortify 

1  Clar.  Pap.  iii.  164. 

2  The  Queen  could  not  be  blamed  for  not  assisting  her  son  with  money  ; 
for  it  is  related  that  about   this  time  she   was  obliged  to  keep  her  daughter 
Henrietta  all  day  in  bed  during  a  severe  frost,  because  she  had  not   money  to 
buy  fuel  to  light  a  fire  to  warm  her.  3  Clar.  Pap.  ii.  310. 


1654-]  EARL     OF    CLARENDON.  461 

and  depress  him.1  "The  Queen's  displeasure  grew  so  no- 
torious against  him,  that  after  he  found,  by  degrees,  that 
she  would  not  speak  to  him,  nor  take  any  notice  of  him 
when  she  saw  him,  he  forbore  at  last  coming  into  her 
presence,  and  for  many  months  did  not  see  her  face, 
though  he  had  the  honor  to  lodge  in  the  same  house,  the 
Palace  Royal,2  where  their  Majesties  kept  their  Courts."  3 
But  she  had  ample  vengeance  when  she  had  prevailed 
upon  her  son,  on  specious  pretexts,  to  deliver  the  Great 
Seal  to  Herbert, — which  Hyde,  notwithstanding  all  his 
awkward  attempts  at  seeming  indifference  evidently  con- 
sidered the  heaviest  misfortune  which  had  ever  befallen 
him. 

The  new  Lord  Keeper  by  no  means  bore  his  faculties 
meekly ;  and,  not  contented  with  parading  his  rank  and 
precedence,  he  entered  into  cabals  for  the  utter  ruin  of 
his  rival.  But  these  terminated  in  his  own  discomfiture, 
and  after  holding  the  Great  Seal  little  more  than  a  year,  he 
was  deprived  of  it,  and  consigned  to  a  premature  grave.4 

Hyde  cleared  himself  satisfactorily  of  the  charge  of  hav- 
ing had  an  interview  in  England  with  Cromwell,  and  of 
having  received  a  pension  from  him  for  secret  information, 
as  well  as  having  spoken  slanderous  words  of  the  King, 
and  he  wrote  pleasantly  to  his  friends  :  "  I  hope  you  think 
it  strange  to  hear  that  I  have  been  in  England,  and  have 
had  private  conference  with  Cromwell."  "It  seems  I  was 
in  England  at  the  time  you  were  at  Antwerp,  and  I  be- 
lieve upon  examination  you  will  be  found  to  have  been 
there  with  me.  Of  the  pension  I  heard  not  till  lately. 
My  comfort  is,  that  I  do  not  know  that  any  such  little 
stratagems  do  make  impression  upon  any  worthy  per- 
son." " 

From  the  powerful  influence  of  the  Queen,  and  the  ill 
offices  of  other  enemies,  and  the  levity  of  the  King,  Hyde 
had  been  in  serious  danger  of  being  discarded,  and  of 
being  driven  either  to  sue  for  pardon  to  Cromwell,  or  to 
die  of  chagrin  and  misery  in  exile.  The  year  ending  in 
June,  1654,  was  the  most  unhappy  he  had  ever  passed. 
But  he  was  recompensed  by  seeing  the  Great  Seal  again 
in  the  King's  own  custody,  and  certainly  knowing  that 

1  Ante,  vol.  iii.  p.  404.  *  Palais  Royal.  8  Hist.  Reb.  b.  vii. 

4  See  Life  of  Lord  Keeper  Herbert,  ante,  vol.  iii.  p.  4°6. 
*  Clar.  Pap.  iii.  188. 


462          CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    II.       [1654. 

when  the  Court  moved  into  the  Low  Countries,  "  Ex- 
Lord  Keeper  Herbert  "  was  to  be  left  behind  at  Paris. 

While  Charles  was  making  this  journey,  Hyde  had  leave 
of  absence  to  visit  his  family,  now  stationed  at  Breda. 
Before  quitting  Paris, — on  the  suggestion  of  Charles,  he 
asked  and  he  obtained  an  audience  of  leave  from  his  old 
enemy  the  Queen.  She  charged  him  with  disrespect, 
saying,  "  that  all  men  took  notice  that  he  never  came 
where  she  was,  though  he  lodged  under  her  roof."  He 
replied, — "  Madam,  your  Majesty  mentions  my  punish- 
ment, not  my  fault.  Duty  apart,  which  I  hope  I  shall 
ever  feel,  I  am  not  so  devoid  of  sense  as  needlessly  by  my 
own  act  to  render  it  notorious  that  I  am  not  favorably 
regarded  by  the  widow  of  my  deceased  Master  and  the 
mother  of  my  present  Sovereign.  But  unfortunately  for 
me,  Madam,  it  has  been  sufficiently  evident  that  my 
presence  was  unwelcome,  and  for  this  reason  alone  have  I 
abstained  from  obtruding  myself  upon  your  Majesty's 
notice ;  but  now  I  do  most  humbly  pray  that  your  Maj- 
esty will  dismiss  me  with  the  knowledge  of  what  has 
been  taken  amiss,  that  I  may  be  able  to  make  mine  in- 
nocence and  integrity  appear."  "  But,"  says  he,  speaking 
historically  of  himself  in  the  third  person,  "  all  this  pre- 
vailed not  with  her  Majesty,  who,  after  she  had,  with  her 
former  passion,  objected  his  credit  with  the  King,  and  his 
endeavor  to  lessen  that  credit  which  she  ought  to  have, 
— concluded  that  she  should  be  glad  to  see  reason  to 
change  her  opinion  ;  and  so  carelessly  extended  her  hand 
towards  him — which  he  kissing,  her  Majesty  departed  to 
her  chamber."  ! 

While  Charles  was  sojourning  at  Spa,  in  the  society  of 
his  sister,  the  Princess  of  Orange,  Hyde  spent  his  time 
most  happily  with  his  wife  and  children  at  Breda;  but  the 
Court  being  fixed  at  Cologne,  in  the  month  of  November, 
he  was  obliged  to  repair  thither,  and  to  resume  the  irk- 
some duties  of  prime  minister  to  an  exiled  monarch. 

An  event   of  a  domestic  nature  now  occurred  to  him 

1  Hist.  Reb.  b.  vii.  The  noble  historian  is  sure  to  put  his  opponent  in  the 
wrong  in  relating  any  controversy  in  which  he  was  personally  concerned,  and 
we  must  always  remember  the  enmity  between  him  and  Henrietta  when  we 
read  his  remarks  upon  her — particularly  in  judging  of  the  dark  insinuations 
he  throws  out  against  her,  while  pretending  to  excuse  her,  for  discouraging 
the  escape  of  her  husband  into  France,  where  she  was  then  living,  attended 
by  Lord  Jermyn. 


1655-]  EARL     OF    CLARENDON.  463 

which  afterwards  led  to  important  consequences.  The 
Princess  of  Orange  had  been  very  kind  to  his  farrtily,  had 
provided  a  house  for  them  rent  free  at  Breda,  and  taken 
much  notice  of  his  daughter,  Anne,  now  a  sprightly  girl 
reaching  woman's  estate.  By  the  sudden  death  of  a  maid 
of  honor,  of  the  smallpox,  this  situation  became  vacant 
in  the  establishment  of  the  Princess,  and  Hyde,  in  his 
narrow  circumstances,  was  advised  to  ask  it  for  his 
daughter.  But  he  declined, — saying,  "  that  he  had  but 
one  daughter,  who  was  all  the  company  and  comfort  her 
mother  had  in  her  melancholy  retirement,  and  therefore 
he  was  resolved  not  to  separate  them,  nor  to  dispose  his 
daughter  to  a  court  life."  This,  however,  was  only  coy- 
ness, and  the  matter  was  managed  indirectly.  The  appoint- 
ment was  suggested  to  the  Princess  and  to  the  King,  who 
both  approved  of  it,  and  they,  though  a  little  afraid  of 
the  reproaches  of  their  mother,  proposed  it  to  Hyde. 
He  still  affected  to  dislike  it,  but  agreed  to  leave 
the  decision  to  Lady  Hyde.  She,  well  knowing  what 
would  please  her  husband,  accepted  the  offer,  and  the 
future  Duchess  of  York,  and  mother  of  Queen  Mary 
and  Queen  Anne,  was  established  in  the  household  of  the 
Princess. 

With  a  short  interval,  during  which  Charles  removed  to 
the  sea-coast  to  favor  a  rising  in  England,  he  remained 
at  Cologne  above  two  years,  and  Hyde  attended  him 
almost  as  his  only  minister.  The  royal  exile  now  saw 
near  the  lowest  ebb  of  his  fortunes,  and  was  obliged 
to  live  like  a  distressed  private  gentleman,  the  whole 
expense  of  his  establishment  not  exceeding  600  pistoles  a 
month. 

Hyde  at  this  time  wisely  trusted  to  general  discontent 
in  England  rather  than  to  open  insurrection  or  to  military 
assistance  from  foreign  powers.  He  thus  reasons  in  a 
letter  to  Secretary  Nicholas:  "  I  am  confident  there  are 
many  officers  who  will  always  believe  that  they  have  done 
as  much  for  the  Commonwealth  as  Cromwell  himself,  and 
therefore  will  not  be  content  that  he  should  carry  away 
the  reward  ;  and  if  I  did  not  assuredly  think  that  in  that 
method  of  destruction,  and  from  that  fountain  of  pride 
and  madness,  they  will  at  last  determine  the  confusion, 
and  be  each  other's  executioners,  I  should  be  very  melan- 
cholick ;  for  I  have  really  more  hope  from  that  than  from 


464         CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    II.       [1656. 

all  the  armies  and  fleets  you  and  your  enterprising  friends 
will  be  able  to  draw  together." 

The  tranquillity  of  the  little  Court  at  Cologne  was  much 
troubled  by  the  discovery  of  the  treachery  of  Manning,  a 
young  Roman  Catholic,  who,  pretending  to  be  an  ardent 
royalist,  had  been  admitted  into  their  inmost  confidence, 
and  who,  being  detected  in  a  correspondence  with  Secre- 
tary Thurloe,  confessed  that  he  had  been  Cromwell's  paid 
spy  for  three  years,  transmitting  to  him,  in  consideration 
of  ;£ioo  a  month,  all  the  plans  of  the  royalists.  By  a 
stretch  of  power,  which  we  can  not  understand  how  Hyde, 
who  possessed  a  smattering  of  municipal  law  and  of  the 
law  of  nations,  could  sanction, — the  English  shot  him  as 
a  traitor ; — pretty  much  in  the  same  way  as  Queen 
Christina  of  Sweden  soon  after,  when  she  had  ceased  to 
wear  a  crown,  thought  fit  to  execute  her  chamberlain  at 
Fontainebleau.  Cromwell  was  advised  to  retaliate,  but 
he  would  not  recognize  his  spy." 

The  former  charges  against  Hyde  for  being  himself  in 
correspondence  with  Cromwell  were  certainly  ridiculous  ; 
but  many  believe  that  seeing  the  splendid  success  of  the 
Protector's  foreign  policy,  the  regularity  of  his  internal 
government,  notwithstanding  the  mutinous  disposition 
of  his  parliaments,  and  the  power  now  conferred  upon 
him  of  naming  a  successor,  the  expectant  Chancellor  re- 
garded him  as  the  founder  of  a  new  dynasty,  and  despair- 
ing of  the  recall  of  the  ancient  royal  line,  and  sick  of  the 
evils  of  exile,  wished  to  be  reconciled  to  him.  The  story 
goes,  that  shortly  before  the  removal  of  the  Court  from 
Cologne,  he  wrote  a  confidential  letter  to  Secretary 
Thurloe,  with  whom  he  had  formerly  been  on  terms  of 
friendship,  praying  that  he  might  be  allowed  to  return 
with  his  family  to  his  native  land, — that  the  letter  being 
shown  to  Cromwell,  he  readily  gave  his  assent,  thinking 
that  such  a  defection  would  be  highly  detrimental  to  the 
royal  cause, — that  a  favorable  answer  was  returned, — but 
that  while  difficulties  arose  as  to  the  mode  of  executing  the 
plan,  a  ray  of  hope  broke  in  from  the  offered  support  of 
Spain  ; — that  Hyde  therefore  resolved  to  prefer  the  chance 
of  a  Restoration  ; — that  his  letter  was  carefully  preserved 

1  Nov.  1655. 

2  "  The  wretch  soon  after  received  the  reward  due  to  his  treason."     This 
as  the  whole  of  Clarendon's  account  of  Manning's  execution. — Hist.  Reb.  b.  xiv. 


1656.]  EARL     OF    CLARENDON.  465 

by  Thurloe  ; — that  when  the  Restoration  did  take  place, 
Thurloe,  whose  head  was  very  insecure,  adventured  to 
the  house  of  the  Lord  High  Chancellor,  and  saying  he 
had  a  present  to  make  him,  delivered  the  letter  into  his 
hand, —  and  that  his  Lordship  having  perused  it  in  some 
confusion,  gave  him  thanks,  bade  him  go  and  live  quietly 
in  his  chambers,  and  promised  that  he  should  be  in  no- 
wise molested.1  No  strong  proof  is  brought  forward  to 
support  this  charge ;  but  I  must  say  that  it  is  not  by  any 
means  improbable,  and  we  ought  not  to  discredit  it 
merely  from  Hyde's  o\vn  professions,  for  he  did  not  hesi- 
tate to  practice  duplicity,  even  with  his  friends.  Upon 
this  very  subject  while  at  Madrid  he  thus  writes  to  Sec- 
retary Nicholas :  "  I  know  no  other  counsel  to  give 
you  than  by  the  grace  of  God  I  mean  to  follow  myself, 
which  is  to  submit  to  God's  pleasure  and  judgment  upon 
me,  and  to  starve,  really  and  literally,  with  the  comfort 
of  having  endeavored  to  avoid  it  by  all  honest  means, 
and  rather  to  bear  it  than  do  anything  contrary  to  my 
duty.  Compounding  is  a  thing  I  do  not  understand,  or 
how  a  man  can  do  it  to  save  one's  life.  We  must  play 
out  the  game  with  that  courage  as  becomes  gamesters 
who  were  first  engaged  by  conscience  against  all  motives 
and  temptations  of  interest,  and  be  glad  to  let  the  world 
know  that  we  were  carried  on  only  by  conscience.  In- 
deed, all  discourse  of  submitting  or  compounding  with 
those  rogues  in  England  hath  so  little  of  sense  or  excuse 
in  it,  that  there  needs  no  reply  to  it.  You  and  I  must 
die  in  the  streets  first  of  hunger."5  Yet  at  the  same  time 
he  thus  discloses  his  secret  thoughts  in  a  letter  to  his  in- 
timate friend,  Sir  Toby  Matthew:  "And  now,  sir,  let  me 
tell  you  in  your  ear  (as  one  whom  I  dare  trust  with  my 
want  of  judgment),  that  after  all  my  travel  through  the 
Low  Countries,  and,  I  think,  the  length  of  France,  and 
little  less  than  400  miles  in  the  King's  dominions,  Eng- 
landris  a  very  convenient  place;  and  the  people  were 
once  as  good  company  as  any  of  their  neighbors  ;  and  if 
they  can  be  yet  reduced  to  half  the  honesty  they  had,  if 
you  please  I  will  meet  you  there;  and  if  we  ever  come 
again  willingly  out  of  it,  let  us  be  banished  London.  But  I 

o  o  J 

1  See  Life  of  Clarendon,  by  an  impartial  hand.     2nd  ed.  1712,  p.  lio. 

2  Clar.  Pap:  iii.  24,  25. 

III. — 30 


466          CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    II.      [1657. 

will  take  no  peremptory  resolution  till  I  know  how  far  I 
may  depend  upon  your  conscience." 

If  he  did  sometimes  vacillate  in  the  trying  circumstances 
in  which  he  was  placed,  we  must  not  condemn  him  with  too 
much  severity.  There  is  no  reason  to  suppose  he  ever  would 
have  compromised  the  personal  safety  of  the  expatriated 
King,  or  betrayed  any  confidence  reposed  in  him  ;  and 
like  Prince  Talleyrand,  in  other  revolutionary  times,  he 
might  have  honorably  served  opposite  parties  and  dynas- 
ties as  they  successively  gained  the  ascendency. 

In  April,  1656,  Charles  proceeded  suddenly  from  Cologne 
to  Bruges,  in  consequence  of  a  negotiation  opened  with 
him  when  Cromwell  engaged  in  hostilities  against  Spain. 
Hyde  was,  for  a  time,  left  behind  to  settle  the  King's 
financial  affairs, — which  he  found  no  easy  task.  This  was 
the  first  dispatch  to  his  Britannic  Majesty:  "Your  family 
here  is  in  an  ill  condition  and  your  debts  great  ;  much 
owing  by  you  and  by  those  to  whom  you  are  indebted  ; 
and  yet,  that  the  state  may  not  appear  more  dismal 
and  irreparable  to  you  than  in  truth  it  is,  give  me 
leave  to  tell  you  that  4,000  pistoles  will  dischrge  the 
whole  seven  months'  board  wages  which  are  due,  pay  all 
you  owe  here,  supply  those  acts  of  bounty  you  will  for 
the  present  think  necessary,  to  those  who  receive  not  in 
wages,  and  honestly  remove  and  bring  your  family  to 
you."  2 

Small  as  the  required  supply  was,  the  Chancellor  of  the 
Exchequer  could  not  find  ways  and  means  to  raise  it,  and 
four  months  after,  still  remaining  himself  in  pawn,  he  thus 
addresses  the  King :  "  I  do  confess  I  do  think  that  the  pay- 
ment of  what  is  due  at  Cologne  is  of  the  most  importance 
to  you,  and  is  to  be  such  an  ingredient  in  the  establish- 
ing your  future  credit,  of  which  you  have  so  much  use, 
that  it  ought  to  be  compassed,  even  with  some  hazard  to 
your  Majesty  of  future  inconvenience.'" 

By  receipt  of  the  arrears  of  small  pensions  allowed  him 
by  the  Elector  of  Cologne  and  other  German  Princes, 
Hyde  was  at  last  able  to  clear  off  these  demands  and  to 
join  his  Master  at  Bruges."  There  he  entered  into  a  nego- 

1  Clar.  Pap.  March  18,  1650.  s  Ibid.  iii.  293.  8  Ibid.  iii.  302. 

4  These  distresses  probably  furnished  the  hint  for  one  of  the  chapters  of 
Addison's  "Annals  of  the  Reign  of  the  Pretender,"  the  son  of  James  II. 
"  Anno  Regni  4°.  He  ordered  the  Lord  High  Treasurer  to  pay  off  the  debts 


1658.]  EARL     OF    CLARENDON,  467 

tiation  with  his  Holiness  the  Pope  for  his  aid,  upon  prin- 
ciples sufficiently  liberal ;  for,  discouraging  the  hope  of 
the  King's  conversion  he  intimated  his  desire  to  put  the 
Roman  Catholics  in  the  same  condition  with  his  other 
subjects;  and  thus  concluded:  "You  know  well,  that 
though  the  King  hath  in  himself  power  to  pardon  and  dis- 
pense with  the  execution  of  laws,  yet  that  to  the  Repeal 
of  them  there  must  be  the  consent  of  others,  and  there- 
fore the  less  discourse  there  is  of  it  the  more  easily  it  will 
be  done ;  and  it  is  no  small  prejudice  the  passion  and 
unskillfulness  of  some  Catholics  bring  to  their  own  hopes, 
which  must  be  compassed  with  gravity  and  order." 

But  the  negotiation  least  creditable  to  Hyde,  was  that 
which  he  carried  on  with  Sexby,  the  enthusiast  who  had 
published  the  famous  pamphlet,  entitled  "  Killing  no 
Murder  ;"  and  who,  though  he  required  a  dispensation 
.from  the  ceremony  of  kneeling  to  Charles  when  he  came 
over  to  Bruges,  had  made  no  secret  of  his  intention  to 
assassinate  Cromwell,  as  an  act  for  which  he  expected  to 
be  applauded  by  men  and  rewarded  by  Heaven. 

After  Hyde  had  been  some  months  at  Bruges,  an 
occurrence  took  place  which  materially  altered  his  nomi- 
nal rank  and  precedence.  It  was  suggested  in  council, 
that- as  Charles  was  now  formally  recognized  as  King  of 
England  by  Spain,  and  was  entering  into  a  regular  treaty, 
offensive  and  defensive,  with  that  country,  it  would  be 
proper  that  his  own  Court  should  assume  more  the  aspect 
of  royalty,  and  that  he  should  have  a  Lord  High  Chancel- 
lor. There  was  only  one  person  that  could  be  named  for 
this  distinction.  Clarendon  very  affectedly  and  hypocriti- 
cally pretends  that  he  urgently  declined  the  office  when 
it  was  offered  to  him,  "  giving  many  reasons  besides  his 
own  unfitness,  when  there  was  no  need  of  such  an  officer, 
or,  indeed,  any  use  of  the  Great  Seal,  till  the  King  should 
come  into  England  ;  and  that  his  Majesty  found  some 
ease  in  being  without  such  an  officer;  that  he  was  not 
troubled  with  those  suits  which  he  would  be  if  the  Seal 
were  in  the  hands  of  a  proper  officer  to  be  used,  since 
every  body  would  be  then  importuning  the  King  for  the 
grant  of  offices,  honors,  and  lands,  which  would  give  him 

of  the  Crown,  which  had  been  contracted  since  his  accession  to  the  throne ; 
particularly  a  milk  score  of  three  years  standing"— Freeholder,  No.  36. 
1  Clar.  Pap.  iii.  291. 


468         CHANCELLORS    OF    CHARLES    II.        [1658. 

great  vexation  to  refuse,  and  do  him  as  great  mischief 
by  granting."  We  are  asked  to  believe  that  the  King 
not  only  initiated,  but  vigorously  carried  through  the 
measure,  and  now  said,  "he  would  deal  truly  and  freely 
with  him  ;  that  the  principal  reason  which  he  had  alleged 
against  receiving  the  Seal,  -was  the  greatest  reason  that  dis- 
posed him  to  confer  it  upon  him.  Thereupon  he  pulled 
letters  out  of  his  pocket,  which  he  received  lately  from 
Paris,  for  the  grant  of  several  reversions  in  England  of 
offices  and  lands  ;  one  whereof  was  of  the  Queen's  house 
and  lands  of  Oaklands,  to  the  same  man  who  had  pur- 
chased it  from  the  State  ;  who  would  willingly  have  paid 
a  good  sum  of  money  to  that  person  who  was  to  procure 
such  a  confirmation  of  his  title  ;  the  draught  whereof  was 
prepared  at  London,  upon  confidence  that  it  would  have 
the  Seal  presently  put  to  it ;  which  being  in  the  King's 
hand,  none  need,  as  they  thought,  to  be  privy  to  the  secret. 
His  Majesty  told  him  also  of  many  other  importunities 
with  which  he  was  every  day  disgusted,  and  that  he  saw 
no  other  remedy  to  give  himself  ease,  than  to  put  the 
Seal  out  of  his  own  keeping  into  such  hands  as  would  not 
be  importuned,  and  would  help  him  to  deny.  And,  there- 
fore, he  conjured  the  Chancellor  to  receive  that  trust, 
with  many  gracious  promises  of  his  favor  and  protection. 
Whereupon  the  Earl  of  Bristol  and  Secretary  Nicholas 
using  likewise  their  persuasion,  he  submitted  to  the  King's 
pleasure ;  who  delivered  the  Seal  to  him  in  the  Christmas 
time  in  the  year  1657." 

I  must,  nevertheless,  be  permitted  to  doubt  whether, 
in  the  absence  of  all  other  lawyers,  the  King,  or  any 
human  being  about  the  Court  of  Bruges,  would  have  ever 
thought  of  the  office  of  Chancellor,  or  recollected  that 
there  was  in  existence  such  a  bauble  as  the  Great  Seal, 
which  had  lain  neglected  in  the  bottom  of  an  old  trunk 
ever  since  it  was  taken  from  Lord  Keeper  Herbert  at 
Paris, — if  Hyde  himself,  now  beginning  to  see  a  better 
prospect  of  the  King's  recall,  and  anxious  that,  when  that 
event  arrived,  he  should  have  no  competitor  for  the  office 
of  Chancellor,  had  not  deemed  this  a  convenient  oppor- 
tunity for  securing  it,  and  had  not  indirectly  contrived 
that  it  should  be  offered  to  him.1 

1  He  evidently  assigns  a  reason  that  could  have  no  real  connection  with  the. 
transaction — "Sir  Edward  Herbert,  who  was  the  last  Lord  Keeper  of  the 


UNIVERSITY  of  CALIFORNIA 

AT 


1658.]  EARL     OF    CLARENDON.  469 

The  exact  day  of  the  appointment  is  fixed  by  the  fol- 
lowing entry  in  the  register  in  the  Council  office : — 

"  Att  the  Court  att  Bruges,  the  I3th  day  of  Jany.  1658, 
st.  n.        » 

"  Present,  His  Majestic. 

"  Duke  of  York. 

"  Lord  Lieut,  of  Ireland  (Ormond). 
"  Mr.  Secretary  Nicholas. 
"  Mr.  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer. 
"  His    Majestic  declared    his   resolution   to    leave   his 
Create  Seale  in  custody  of  an  officer,  and  therefore  had 
made  choice  of  Sir  Edward  Hyde,  Chancellor  ot  the  Ex- 
chequer, to  be  Lord  Chancellor  of  England,  unto  whom 
he  forthwith  delivered  the  Create  Seale,  and  commanded 
him  to  be  sworn ;  who  took  the  oath  of  supremacy  and 
allegiance  upon  his  knee  at  the  board,  and  Mr.  Secretary 
Nicholas  gave  him  the  oath  of  Lord  Chancellor  of  Eng- 
land, and  then  he  took  his  place  by  his  Majestie's  com- 
mand." 

Great  Seal,  being  lately  dead  at  Paris."  The  Great  Seal  had  been  taken  from 
Herbert  on  the  removal  of  the  Court  from  Paris  in  1654.  But  this  statement 
has  misled  almost  all  writers  who  have  noticed  the  subject,  to  state  that  Her- 
bert continued  Lord  Keeper  as  long  as  he  lived,  and  that  it  was  on  the  va- 
cancy occasioned  by  his  death  that  Hyde  was  appointed. 


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